Be sure its what you want
by laenamoradadeROGUE
Summary: During and after X3; what was Rogue doing? what happened after that? And by the way, where's Pyro? Start of canon to events of X3 but deviates towards the end, completely omitting "I couldn't do it" line from Rogue & Bobby. Almost finished.
1. Original Movie Scene

Hello and Hola! This is a take on what Rogue was up to during the first film. I know that we all know that Anna was to busy filming Margaret at the same time, which i still haven't seen, but Rogue must've been doing something, right? I mean, she did appear at the very end... So we know she didn't pull a Scott, nor will pull a Xavier.

Disclaimer: Sadly, i own nothing, the only gain in this is having fun a a few (less than few) reviews, so i owe every small bit of fun that this is to be to Marvel and Fox

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Ch1 prologue

"I want to be able to touch people, Logan, a hug a handshake, a kiss." She said, looking straight at him. She knew that he always tried to understand, but they were very different. Her eyes were not wondering, she looked firmly, waiting for the Wolverine to talk back, not knowing if he was going to be supportive or not.

"I hope you're not doing this for some boy" he told her. She sort of expected that, even though Bobby had nothing to do with this. She thought of Bobby for a few seconds. She knew things between them would not change whether she got the cure or not. She also knew that Bobby didn't love her anymore. But she understood, he was a boy, and a teenager, add the circumstances and all he thinks about is sex. She came back to reality when she heard Logan talking again.

"Listen, if you wanna go, then go, just be sure it's what you want." Those words hung in the air. _What you want_, it might sound a bit sappy, but he was right. She should do it only if it was what she really wanted, and she was so positive about that. She hesitated before talking again,

"Shouldn't you be telling me to stay? To go upstairs and unpack? " she looked at him. She noticed a small sigh. She knew that he was going to be the one to understand, however, the moment of talking to him was still very difficult. Then he cleared something up that she had been wondering for a very long time,

"I'm not your father, I'm your friend." She took that sentence to heart. Even though in the last couple of years when he was around she looked at him as a father figure, she hadn't been certain if he thought so too. He had saved her, in more than one way, from herself, from danger, from death.

"Just think about what I said, Rogue" he commented, making to leave.

"Marie" she responded fast, she didn't hesitate to correct him.

"Marie" he repeated. He started walking away. Now, more than ever, she was more determined than ever about her decision. After she was not able to see his jacket anymore, she turned at the door.

The doorknob seemed to stand there insulting her. Mocking her for being so weak. She took a deep breath, she knew what she wanted. Nothing would stand between them, her and her decision that is. Pushing all the doubts from the voices in her head, she turned the knob, the metal was stiff and cold, she couldn't help thinking about Bobby.

Was it her, or did the knob get colder? She looked back. There was no one around, which was odd for the usually swarming crowd in all the building. Most of them were in the TV room, the few that were on speaking terms with their parents had been called home, to persuade them of the cure. The adults kept talking about what should be done now, Jeans condition and whatnot.

She closed the door slowly, the creakiness of it seemed to say something to her. But she wasn't listening. This was what she wanted. She craved the only thing she couldn't have. But that is all about to change.

As she walked to the front gate, she thought about the good things of the institute. Bad memories swelled inside her, and the good memories also set in. But she didn't trust memories, she knew some of those memories she had no to right to have them, and instead of mixing herself thinking of the past. She knew that the next best thing was to live the moment, and ignore the voices in her head. If she paid attention, they'd get the better of her.

She walked slowly to the train station, ready to take a very long ride to San Francisco to get the cure. Thank god for Worthington Labs.

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Please review! 


	2. Again Alone

Disclaimer: um, i still haven't been able to schedule that meeting with Stan Lee and Brett Ratner, so for the time being X-Men still belongs to Marvel and Fox, i'm just having fun with the characters.

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She expected the train ride to be nothing much, just plain dull. She had taken many trains before. And since right now she had money, after getting a job near the institute in the Westchester Library, since it was an accessible job, not necessarily a good pay or anything else, she had some money to spend for this unanticipated trip, most of her savings were going to be spent in this.

After watching the horizon for a long time, sleep overwhelms her. Without much worries, she surrenders to it.

She jolts awake, there are too many people around her, all of a sudden she feels their psyches moving towards her. She tries to squirm out, but all efforts are done in vain. She can't stop absorbing, nor can she move. She starts to scream, and shuts her eyes.

This can't be happening, she thinks to herself. She opens her eyes suddenly, to realize that it was all a dream. She takes a deep breath, thankful that the compartment is almost empty. There seem to be four or five guys at the front part of the compartment. She doesn't give much attention to them and plugs her earphones on, and listens to Evanescence (had to, i love that group) for a while.

A while later, she came to her senses again, aware that those people seemed to be on the edge of punching each other. Suddenly she noticed that they were not at all similar. Three seemed to be working together, and the other two were different.

All of them were wearing gloves, which she thought was rather unusual. She noticed that there seemed to be a very unusual conflict between them.

She was wide awake now, and noticed the situation between them, the train pulled into the next stop and the two eerie guys got down, the other three remained. More people got in at this stop. She gazed out the window for a second to see where they were: Chicago, and this train was going to keep south, she needed to go west. She got down.

Looking around, she was at first thrown back by the immense quantity of people. She had to be very careful, she was all too aware that her neck was exposed. She pulled her cloak's hood over her head. She took the challenge, and walked over to the information center, hoping that they wouldn't be too uncomfortable with her being all covered up during the end of spring.

She stood in line, trying very hard to be unnoticed by families on vacation and busy business people. She saw the same two guys from the prior train, they were sulking in a corner, smoking and talking very quietly. The line moved again.

She waited patiently, at every second aware that her neck was still exposed, the Chicago breeze made that small piece of skin all too noticeable. She was almost at the window, knowing the risk, the took of a glove to reach for her wallet and take out a spare twenty to cover the fare. Taking the bill into her back pocket with her gloved hand she put the wallet in her duffel bag. Suddenly she felt a hand on her wrist, and a suave voice in her ear.

"You don't want no attention, now do you? Give me the wallet and I leave quietly." The voice said. She kept her cool. Took a deep breath, swallowed nothing, and put her hand back in her bag to take out the wallet, fearfully, she opened the wallet inside the bag and let the bills fall to the bottom of her duffel bag. She closed it. She blinked deeply, still trying to not freak out even though she was already very freaked. She moved her hand out slowly, knowing that before she took out her hand entirely they would get enough attention.

A thought popped up in her head, she dropped the wallet. Hoping he would get it and go away.

"Don't you get smart with me, girl. Pick it up." She kneeled down. He still held her wrist, but not in an uncomfortable position. She couldn't put her glove on with only one hand. She got the wallet, she tried to think fast, but nothing came to mind. She stood up and turned to face the guy. He had brown hair and a small ponytail. He had deep grey, kind of emotionless, eyes, She gave him the wallet. Knowing that he would touch her skin, she was frightened. He leaned of her.

"Merci, fille" he said. And he left in the same unnoticed way that he had arrived. The family in front of her left and she was left in front of the booth. She put on the glove, finally. She took a deep breath and came closer to the service window.

"How can I be of assistance?" the nice clerk lady asked. She smiled a bit. For a moment she forgot what she wanted.

"Which the next train to San Francisco with the least stops?" she asked. A look of apprehension crossed her. Possibly many people were headed to San Francisco right now, "Is something wrong?" Rogue asked her.

"We have a train leaving in half an hour that only stops only at Denver and Salt Lake City and then you are in San Francisco. The cost is seventeen ninety five." She said. Rogue took the twenty from her back pocket and placed it on the booth.

"Can I ask you something?" she whispered as she got her change. Rogue saw this coming.

"Sure," she tried to sound normal, as sad as that was.

"Are you a mutant? Are you going to get the cure from Worthington labs?" she was curious. Rogue looked at her, knowing that she wouldn't see anything wrong with her.

She took the change.

"Yes," she said under her breath. The clerk lady still seemed to be making conversation.

"Oh," she lowered her gaze, but looked up again quickly "Don't you like having extraordinary powers?" she asked, she was not embarrassed to be so curious.

"Not very often" she said, starting to get depressed again. She walked away, and waited for it to be quarter to six.

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If you like, don't forget a nice review, if you don't like, i anticipate flame as well. 


	3. Accompanied

_New chapter is up! Hope y'all enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I scheduled the meeting, for 2010, so for now, X-men and everything still belongs to Stan Lee and Brett Ratner, a.k.a Marvel and Fox. _

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Soon enough she is on the bus again, unfortunately, this time she is sitting between two people. More self conscious of her skin than ever, she started sweating excessively and to make matters worse her gloves itch. She tries to act normal, but can't help herself. The head of the man sleeping against the window moves towards her, even though she is mostly covered it scares her. The woman on the other side looks at her preoccupied. 

"Its all right, I doubt he'll bite" she states simply. Rogue looks at her, fighting the urge to ask her to switch seats with her. "My husband always sleeps on long rides, I simply cannot fall asleep, so much movement keeps me awake. I'd rather read anyways" the woman continued to make conversation, Rogue smiled meekly.

"I'm Cynthia, and the sleeping man is my husband Bernard. Nice to meet you," she extended her hand. Rogue shortly and carefully shook it.

"Ah'm…" she started to say, she was about to say Rogue, but stopped herself. "Marie" she said, trying to sound normal.

"You have a lovely name" Cynthia smiled. Rogue smiled, "Thanks" She was safe as long as this woman didn't know she was a mutant. The lady continued to strike up conversation, and told her of when her husband and her had been to the south, and other adventures. Rogue smiled and nodded every once in a while so the lady knew she was following.

"Oh, but, I haven't let you talk much, now have I?" she smiled again.

"Thats quite allright, ma'am, Ah'm sorry to say Ah ain't much of a story teller." She said thickly. The lady then kept chatting on.

"Oh, I like your pendant, I hadn't noticed it at all. Is it real silver?" She asked. Rogue's hand went towards her choker necklace, it had the X symbol of the X-men. Kitty had also been given one when they both obtained team member status. She had forgotten that she was wearing it, possibly it had moved from under her shirt when she lowered her hood to pay closer attention to her tales.

"Yeah, it was a present from..."_ my mutant teacher?_ That would sound very wrong… "From mah grandfather," she smiled. "He passed away recently." She added.

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss, dear" she said, and she sounded like it too.

"Every one in my family misses him…" she found herself saying. _Because that is what we are… a family. _ She noticed she was getting a bit carried away, "Ah'm sorry, Ah don't mean to be…"

"Its all right, dear, I understand." She said. She patted her arm and stroked her a bit. Rogue smiled and fought back tears. That's when she noticed the same man again, trying to pick the ladies purse, without her noticing. Rogue noticed it all right. But she couldn't make herself say anything. She whispered to the old lady:

"Lean back on your chair and pretend to be asleep, there's a guy trying to take your purse." She saw in her eyes that she was scandalized.

"He picked my wallet earlier, I need to stop him and get my stuff back too" she said. Cynthia did as she asked. Rogue took a very big risk. She ungloved her left hand quickly, and reached over Cynthia and towards the guy, She briefly touched him, he didn't get knocked out, but noticeable he was dizzy. She swiftly got out of her seat and faced him.

"Ya ain't gonna get much there, sugah" she threatened. The man looked closer at her. His piercing blue eyes seemed to be mocking her actions. He went for the bag once more, seeing that the old lady seemed asleep.

As the man leaned down again, Rogue took her chance and kicked his leg. The man, know with a very unhappy expression, turned on her. There were two options, she waited for him to strike her, or she struck him. Anyways, he'd go down.

He reached for her throat, knowing how evident that would be when her powers started kicking in, she slammed her fist on his face quicker than he was able to finish reaching towards her. The man fell to the floor. Luckily, all the nearby people seemed to be asleep, except a few that were indifferent towards their fight.

"Oh God!" Cynthia exclaimed as she opened her eyes again. By then, Marie had her gloves back on.

"Don't worry, the bastard had it coming." She quickly searched his pocket and found her wallet, along with three others. She took hers. She wondered whether it was best to leave the man there or take him to the back. She decided on the latter. She pulled him through the cabin, which fortunately was the one just before the caboose with only some luggage.

However, she wasn't able to just leave him there. As she was moving towards the door, a man stepped in her way.

"Remy not be pleased wit what ya done to Henri" a man said. Marie was immediately awe struck by the man. She couldn't deny that he was attractive. And his auburn hair almost made her melt. But it was the mystery that his sunglasses held what appealed to him the most. What was wrong with her? She didn't want another boy she couldn't touch in her head.

"Who said Ah did anything?" she swallowed. Then the other guy, who was definitely a charmer, leaned towards her. She was much too entranced to stop him. Next thing she notices, another body slumped beside her, and a psyche grabbing hold of her.

"Bad idea, sugah" she said, once she pushed the psyche to the back of her mind. She didn't get many thoughts. But the the guy, whose name was Remy, and whose psyche was now inside her, succumbed to the floor. She walked to the wall, where she leaned, a bit of lightheadedness on her. She stayed there. Trying to locate some of the guys memories, to build somewhat of stuff on him. She was concentrating, when she sensed something on her gloves. They were glowing… She looked and saw no explanation to how that was happening.

"Maybe Ah was intelligent enough to absorb a mutant…" she scorned herself. Then the gloves exploded, still on her hands. They simple cotton gloves, and the impact wasn't much, but it still scared her. She examined her hands to make sure the damage wasn't too much. She decided to stick around for when the mutants woke up, who knows, maybe they were on the same path as she was.

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I changed the end of this chappie, someone mentioned Remy not hitting a girl and i took the scene back, sorry! 

I embrace reviews, they are my friends, either just a few phrases or a constructive criticism (a.k.a flame). Thanks.

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	4. Awkward

_Disclaimer: It's getting closer to 2007, but the meeting is still in three years, they say i've got to be over twenty one and what not, which i think sucks. So Marvel owns X·men, for the moment. I am considering other means..._

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Ch4

After sitting there for quite a while, with nothing to entertain herself, she completely decided against going to where Cynthia was again, she noticed one of the men stir awake. It was the one who barely touched her. By then, his psyche was just a memory, she kinda senses when he was regaining consciousness. She stayed put, scared of anything that might happen, she saw him pull himself up and locate his surroundings. She breathed as silently as she could, but inevitably he saw her. She pretended not to react.

He then with practiced agility got on his feet. He looked around once more, checking for anything else in the back. He saw the other guy, and walked towards him checked his pulse, still out cold, but not dead. Rogue knew that the last thing she should do was talk, especially because she still wasn't sure if the accent had already drained out. But he then walked towards her, she hoped he didn't touch her again.

"Wha' happen'd back 'ere, chérie?" he asked. She stood mute, rooted to the stop, seemingly not noticing him, when she was really ignoring him. He looked at her through dark sunglasses. She continued to stare into space, and he gave her time to talk. After a long while, or what seemed a very long time, he spoke again:

"Y' know, Ah am talking to you" he said, trying to end the uncomfortable silence, the one on his behalf at least. Rogue was to focused on clearing her mind, that the last thing she remembered was that there was a guy besides her.

"Hey, chérie," Still, she remained non responsive. "Ah think you know quite well wha' I'm talkin' 'bout" he said, he moved his hand towards hers, but she pulled away. She couldn't hold it much longer.

"Don't touch me" she exhaled, barely audible, but there. His hand moved back, taken aback. She looked his way, _finally,_ he thought. She had a strained look on her face, she didn't want to be here, she just wanted to take the cure quickly and get on with her life.

"You're a mutant" she told him, as if stating the obvious, as if his mutation was visible. He was a bit surprised, he didn't see that coming.

"What are you talking about?" he asked her, pretending to be weirdly confused. She looked at him. She had already pushed his psyche away, but certain things remained in her head. She didn't care showing that she had powers to another mutant.

She moved, "Don' move" she warned him, reached one of his many pockets from the trench coat that he wore and took out just one card, three of cloves. She took it and smiled. He looked confused. She then went back to her memory and pulled his psyche out for a flicker of a second, she ignited the card. She pulled him back again and gained control of her body again.

"Wha'?" was all he managed to speak. He looked up to her very confused, actually, not feigning it. She was not so sure how to start talking to him. "Are you a psychic?" he asked. She laughed.

"No" she said, changing psyched and having two new ones to deal with made her tiresome.

"Un of dem tha' copies autres powers?" he asked, intrigued.

"Not really. Ah'm not imitating your power. It is really you power, your raw self that I have made contact with, Remy" she told him, pulling his name from the other guy's psyche that was overwhelming her still.

"Excuse-moi?" he asked

"Ah stole your power from you, Ah didn't mean to. Ya're the one that touched me." She was glad that his voice was gone from her.

"Remy? Did he now, what's so bad 'bout touching a beautiful femme?" he responded. She blushed a bit at that.

"When a "beautiful femme's" skin" Rogue imitated him, "can kill you with her bare skin, that's a bad thing. If I had touched you for three seconds you would be out cold like your brother" she told him. A bit shocked by his audacity, but scared of his quick mind she didn't say anything else. His eyes must've grown behind his sunglasses, because he didn't have any sign that read shock in his face.

"Oh, then you're un mutant,aussi," she nodded slightly.

"Are ye headed t' take the cure?" he asked her. She nodded, even less noticeably than before.

"Too bad, Remy be headed there to manifest against it. What be so bad 'bout your power anyways?" he asked, as if he hadn't understood her explanation just now.

"Do you see Henri lying like that?" she told him. "The touch lasted five full seconds." He won't be getting up in about five hours." She told him precisely.

"Then how come Remy's not out still?" he asked. She was annoyed by him talking in third person, but didn't feel with enough energy to argue.

"You barely touched me for a quarter of a second. I've been sitting here trying to regain control for half an hour already." She explained.

"So ya want to get rid of it to be able to touch? You want someone else to explore your body with you?" he asked her, passion in his voice, pleasure in his hand that moved to stroke her thigh. If she was taken aback by his movements, she hid it really well.

She closed her eyes to regain herself again. Damn, her head was still very crowded. She was sure this wasn't about Bobby. She wanted to be able to touch, when he said those words she realized the different types of touch that she could experience. She looked at him. She wanted to look into his eyes, because she could normally connect with people when she saw their eyes.

"Can you take of your shades?" she asked politely.

"Why?" he said questioningly.

"Cuz it's already dark?" she countered.

"BIen," he consented. She kept her glance at his face. He uncovered his red on black eyes and she saw upon them with apprehension. She smiled.

"You have one of a kind eyes," she stated, he was torn between the possibility of her being enthranced with his eyes or her still needing to rest and hadn't seen properly that she kept looking directly at him.

"Remy'll take that as a compliment." He told her. She then realized that she had left her bag up in the front and had no gloves.

"Mah gloves" she suddenly said, as if to herself.

"Need some gloves?" he asked.

"Ah have another pair, mine exploded." She informed him. He suddenly saw the jags on her hands and knew exactly the only way to get them like that, he remembered when at the beginning things exploded in his hands.

"I should go get them" she got up, and no longer feeling hazy went towards the other side of the train.

"Wait," Remy reached her in no time "will you come back here? Remy be interested in talking to another mutant, he don't really know much other mutants," he explained.

"Sure" Rogue was a bit surprised by that proposal, considering that she was in her path to stop being a mutant.


	5. Attempting Amiability

Disclaimer: Yes! some weird guy lost his meeting and i got reschedule for a few months, this is great! so, i'll be talking to you after they let me write all this!! Right now, X-men belong to Marvel Entertainment and Fox Group... next july, who knows?

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Ch5

As she was closing the door behind her, the train stopped. With a quick glance she saw they were in Cheyenne, still a long way to San Francisco. She walked normally towards where she used to be seated. Cynthia was getting her stuff and stirring Bernard awake when Rogue showed up. She smiled meekly at them and stood waiting for them to leave and then sit herself.

"Oh, Marie, I was beginning to grow concerned about you!" Cynthia said friendlily. She thought of a story to come up with fast.

"Oh, don't worry, Cynthia. Ah'm okay, I just had to go to the bathroom." She smiled, Cynthia was finishing closing her purse.

"Right, well, is this your stop too?" she asked.

"No, I'm headed to San Francisco" she stated. Cynthia's eyes changed, right now most mutants wanted to be in San Francisco. The flicker in her eyes showed the mix between fear and hatred she held towards mutants. Rogue felt that she was about to ask that too, but she simply gave her one last meaningless smile and walked away.

Rogue let out a sigh as she sat down. She closed her eyes and fought the response all the psyches had towards Cynthia. She didn't care what they thought, and she had promised herself she would not give in to them.

Soon enough the train started moving. She looked down to her bag. Remembering the two southern guys that were in the back of the train she stood up again. This time most of the train was empty, only about seven people remained. She waited for the aisle to be clear to make her way to the back of the train once more.

"Remy thought you wouldn't be coming back" he told her. She looked defiantly at him.

"Why shouldn't Ah?" she responded. Did he think she wasn't telling the truth?

"Maybe you were more comfortable in the other section" he responded.

"Maybe" she countered. Well, there were seats.

"Remy was thinking about what you told him" he started making conversation. His sunglasses were back on. But he was still seated, this time he was shuffling his cards in his hands expertly.

"And what was that, sugah?" Rogue asked. She crossed her arms in front of her, unaware of how that put things into perspective for him, and he was glad he had put his sunglasses back on

"Your reason for wanting the cure, chère" he told her. She hesitated a bit when he wanted to address that issue, but she didn't show it. For some reason she wasn't scared of him, he wasn't like Magneto that had kidnapped her, they had simply met.

"Oh, that" she said and sat down beside him, he didn't shudder, she half expecting him to. But then again, his not doing so wasn't so bad, it also made her somehow happy.

"Oui, that" he said. He looked at her, waiting to see if she was going to say something about it first. She didn't, instead she put her duffel bag in between her crossed legs and unzipped it, starting to rummage for something.

"What about it?" she dared ask, whilst her hands still tried to locate the other pair of gloves that she had brought with her.

"You're right, nobody should be cursed with never being able to touch. You can't really??" he told her,

"I've tried several times to control it, but nothing seems to work" she told him. One hand emerged victorious with both gloves, linked together with a rubber band, which she always used to keep the pairs in order.

"And what about tha' lil demonstration that ya did with the powers?" he asked. She put her gloves on, it gave her a better sense of comfort wearing them She flexed her fingers to accommodate them, but she also was allowing herself to think about how to explain she second part of her mutation to him.

"Whenever Ah touch somebody Ah don't only take their life force, along their energy any person's memories and abilities flow into me. Whenever the touch is too long, the other psyche, or personality, can take complete control over me. But all those psyches remain on mah head. And Ah can, which requires a lot of effort, reach back into one specific person and use their powers, or accent, or try to grasp a specific memory. But that part, is the hard one" she told him. He looked pretty awed about that, and excited as well. She looked at him.

"Hey! Ya put your glasses back on" she exclaimed.

"Oui"

"Take 'em off" she ordered.

"Bien," he said, he took them off without taking his eyes of her. "Is just the habit of keeping them on" he told her. She gave him a puzzled look.

"Mos' people don' like my eyes" he told her. "And Remy ain't the one to just parade around announcing he be a mutant" he reassured her.

"Me neither, tha's mainly why Ah don't have much skin exposed" she told him.

"Ah, but your skin looks so good" he answered, he was looking at the small bit of neck exposed, the only place she allowed herself to feel the breeze. His hand went up towards her face.

"Remy," she started "Ah don' wanna hurt you" she said. Her eyes looked at him, pleadingly, she didn't want any more memories swimming in her head. He looked into her vulnerable eyes and brought him hand down, for once his charm hadn't been effective. She sighed after making him stop.

"Ah'm sorry." She told him. "It's not that I don't like touch, it's just that I don't want more memories inside me" she told him. An awkward silence grew after that. Remy was deep in thought, and so was Rogue.

"Chère, you haven't told Remy your name yet" he told her, after about ten minutes of just sitting in silence. He had to say something. She hesitated.

"Ma…" she started. Was she not still Rogue? "Rogue" she stated firmly.

"Rogue?" he asked with his eyes. She nodded.

"Mm, Remy like that name. Mais, Remy aime that name. Suits you, chère" he told her.

Suddenly Rogue started to feel tired. She looked at her wrist, remembering for the first time since she left the mansion that she had left behind the watch Bobby had given her so long ago. She didn't even think about that for a few seconds.

"What time is it, Remy?" she asked.

"Je ne sais pas" Remy answered.

"Oh," she replied. She tried to hold back a yawn but couldn't.

"My guess it be pretty late" he told her. She was trying very hard not to fall asleep. They should be arriving soon, or so she thought.

"Rogue," she looked up, she was searching her bag again, she knew somewhere she had her handheld computer, and that had the time. "When will Henri be waking up?"

He had just looked sideways towards him again and felt bad for doing nothing and him being just lying there.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. His psyche was still very on the top of her head, she had continuously tried to push it back, but it was too early to make it become a reminiscing whisper like the others.

"Not another whole hour still" was her response. She found her handheld. She clicked one key and the screen came up, with the time on the upper left corner. 10: 32, it was kind of late. If she had gotten on the train at quarter to six, had seen Henri picking Cynthia's pocket at around eight, roughly two hours after getting in the bus, and his presence was still very irritating on her, maybe even three hours before he came to his senses.

"Um, maybe even three hours" she said calmly.

"Isn't there a way to make it go faster?" Remy asked. She shook her head. Remy's expression turned thoughtful.

"Do you know at what time this train arrives?" she asked. It was Remy's turn to shake his head.

"Well, wake me up when we get there" she told him and closed her eyes leaning back on the cold wall. He looked at her for a few seconds. She was beautiful, her full lips and tender cheeks looked just right, and a dented lip added to her frame a lovely trait. Besides that, she had full breasts and long wavy hair with a unique white strand that made her stand out in a crowd, he was going to have to ask her how she got it.

Remy was just watching her when a movement of the train made her slip a bit sideways. His fast (and eager) reflexes grabbed her gently before she hit her duffel bag that was to the side, he passed an arm around her and brought her close to him, letting her head rest of his shoulder. He felt much warmer with her warmth near him, and her even breath was following a very slow rhythm similar to his heartbeats. Soon enough, he was dozing off too.

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please, please review! look that ah made this one specially long. :P 

review + review happy writer, -- longer, better, faster, next chapter,

so the equations allows us to know that you must review. :D


	6. Attesting Alarmfulness

Disclaimer: don't own them... yet:D I got the appointment and they'll see my case. Any suggestions to what to say to them? Someone said something about doing a Rogue spin-off. :Dlol. Have fun!

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CH 6

He lost track of time, but was suddenly wakened by the jolt of the train making another stop. He looked around, Rogue had snuggled closer to him and Henri was still unconscious. He carefully stood, laying Rogue on her bag and peeked out the window, a sign nearby told him everthing he needed to know: Salt Lake City, still another few hours to go. He eyed his brother once more: no sign of consciousness could be seen on him. So he decided to leave it me, as Rogue had said, he'd still be out for about three hours.

So considering it would still take a while and he really was tired, he checked the contents of their gaining's on the two large black duffel bags around which Henri had collapsed. Everything seemed in order. He noiselessly continued to ponder about. He watching the dark horizon and lit a cigarette. He tried to relax a little in vain, he considered the dangers and the good things about going to this city, this job had a very high risk for his potential exposure, but there was also the matter of this runaway they had run into. What would he do with le ange once they arrived?

A nearby shudder got his attention from the sleeping girl, his heightened senses saw that it was not a coldness shudder. He looked towards her, a bit puzzled. She started to wriggle in her sleep, as if she was bound. He walked quickly towards her. What the hell was going on? She then started to throw her head back and pound the floor with her wrists.

"Cheré," he tried to wake her. She continued her motions, still a safe distance from her he leaned in closer and shook her shoulder a bit, she twisted a bit more.

"Rogue" he spoke clearer, now a bit more concerned. "Wake up, Rogue" she thrashed a bit and seemed to relax for a moment. He shook her shoulder a bit more roughly. She woke up, her troubled eyes looking around everywhere. When she saw where she was, a small sigh left her lips. Remy sat down besides her again.

She tried steady her breath, Remy remained still besides her, let her notice him when she was ready.

"Damn, Ah shouldn't've left" she spoke very low to herself. Remy lifted an eyebrow at that statement.

She opened her eyes and rubbed away the remnants of sleep. She looked at Remy and her face fell.

"You okay, chère?" he questioned. She shut her eyes tight before raising her head once more.

"Yeah, just a nightmare" she covered quickly.

"Seem'd like un hell of a mauve rêve" he said sneakily, he hadn't put his glasses back on, she looked deeply into his eyes and decided to speak the truth.

"It was not really a nightmare…" she said, avoiding his glance a bit. "More of a memory" she looked into his eyes.

"Toi?" he assumed, which would be right in most cases, but this is Rogue. She shook her head minimally. (yours)

"Qui est?" he asked again, whenever he was very puzzled he started speaking french.

"What?" she looked bewildered at him. "Ah mean, chère, oui, moi, toi I get, but I don't really know french, Remy" she glanced at him. He smiled warmly.

"Whose?" he translated. She tried to hide it, but her expression went blank when he asked that. Yours? That didn't seem like a good answer. She sighed, she had already started to tell the truth, now was not the time to back out.

"… Yours" she said. She lowered her gaze once more. Now it was his turn to be baffled. _How? Her powers extend to such a thing like that? Shit… no wonder she wants the cure. _

"Remy be sorry" he said. He shook his head, he really never thought about so many things that was so long ago, and still it got into her system? Damn, those memories were just… let's just say he had quite a lot of nightmares of his own after that time of his life. "Merde" he said below a whisper, but still very energetically.

"Don't be" she told him. "Yours aren't half as bad as the lot I've got up here" she told him, pointing to her right temple. He took out his cards again and had started shuffling them, getting a bit angsty about knowing he was haunting her dreams.

"Je souviens what it was like…" he said, "It was about trios ou quatre years ago, after being locked up for so long Remy thought he would nevah see le soleil again" he told her, he seemed deep in thought. She wanted him to get out of that depressing regression he had gotten himself into. (I know)

"Hey," she called softly. "It's okay," she tried to think of something that would cheer him up. "It's not as bad as a child's memories of concentration camps." She told him. He looked intensely at her. So much for his suffering. "I have come across someone else who had been experimented on because of his mutant abilities, it was so bad that he suffers from amnesia, doesn't recall anything before he got his whole life destroyed." She confided, so long as names were excluded she doubted there would be any trouble.

"Well, seems to Remy that you've been around the block for a while" he told her. She gave him a half smile.

"What can I say, bad mutants usually have a dark past, and I have at least once ended up being part of their schemes" she told him.

"Hmm?" he questioned, not quite understanding what she meant.

"I was kidnapped by a mutant terrorist once that wanted to turn the human race into mutants and that meant transferring his powers to me so that I'd power a weird machine he built because he wanted to be around when the mutant kind reigned but it didn't work out so I ended up with his memories" she talked quickly, she really didn't like to talk about the Liberty Island incident. Remy in his drowsiness only grasped a few of the words.

"Kidnap, terrorist, machine, failed?" he said. She nodded, signaling that she didn't want to talk about it.

"Rogue, that sounds terrible" he told her. She tried to be strong just then, but the memory of that day have flooding into her. She pushed back the inner Eric that tried to make her listen. _I haven't got all day, kill the human, bring the mutant to me, together we can make the mutantkind last forever, we are Homo superior and must live up that. _She clenched her eyes and teeth to make him go away. Remy grabbed her shoulder, she was crunched over and didn't seem the same person she was seconds ago.

"You really shouldn't do that, young man" a different voice emerged from her lips as she straightened herself. Remy was scared.

"Wha?" he said. Rogue clutched her head this time and pushed him as far back as she could.

"Sorry," she told him, trying to keep herself in check. "It's just that, he's so strong, whenever Ah think of him his psyche emerges and Ah… Ah just can't keep him inside." She sighed. The effort was gone, he was buried once more. They looked at each other, Remy not quite comprehending her abilities just then, Rogue trying to read his expression.

"Ah should try and get some more sleep" she said thickly. She relaxed against the wall once more and closed her eyes. Remy also reclined against the wall. He was in deep thought: about Rogue.

"Tu ne devrais pas maudire avec ces mémoire" he whispered. He looked towards her, he shuffled his cards a few times. Then looked at her again, her breathing had evened out again, she was asleep. (You shouldn't have those bad memories)

He tucked the cards in his pocket and passed an arm over her and rested her head on his chest. He found the warmth comforting but didn't dare doze off. He kept his eyes flicking between Henri and her for quite a while, he was sure that it wouldn't be long before they arrived or one of them waked up.

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please review, a review makes a happy writer!  



	7. Abrupt Absorption

Disclaimer: Rogue, Remy, and all the characters featured in this fiction are registered and copyrighted material belonging to Marvel Entertainment... Don't bug me, the meeting was a catastrophe, they basically told me that the reasons I came up with weren't valid enough. BUt i can still write anythig nonprofit... so here goes.

AN: Yes, sorry about the terrible writer's block that you had to go through, in my defense it's vacation and I plan to finish this anytime before classes start again. I suck at summaries so I hope you have fun reading this, a especially long chappie for you guys

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Ch7 

_Merde, that was un hell de beating._ He looked around and the first thing he saw was Remy with a girl, _the homme couldn't even spend one whole jour without playing his charm with the ladies._

He saw his freak eyes notice that he was up. Henri rubbed his eyes and then stood up.

"What 'appened?" he asked rubbing his temples. He was still trying to compose himself as he gathered up and stretched as he walked over to Remy.

"Last thing I remember…" he started to say. "That girl…" Henri started to say.

"What?" Remy asked not really interested.

"She picked a fight with me!" he exclaimed. "But, I don't understand… How did I get back here? Did she knock me out? Why the hell can't you spend one night without cheating on Bella?" he said very quickly.

"Remy guess that knocked out would be an understatement" he said amusedly and smiled at his brother.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Henri asked.

"Homme, you touched her poisonous skin" he said trying to explain. "And Remy not be cheating on Bella" he said quickly.

"Oui? Then what's that?" he said looking at his more than comfortable position with the girl.

"Dis?" he guestured as if this was nothing. "This is Remy making friends with another mutant" he cocked his head and smiled wickedly at his brother.

"Mutant or not, you don't have friends who are girls, you have girlfriends, and change them too fast as far as I'm concerned" Henri said. Remy was not amused.

"You just wanna rub in my face that you have Merci" Remy said to him.

"Will you're petite-amie be a problem with the reason we came here?" Henri asked.

"Non," Remy wasn't sure what to say just then. "She'd probably be gone by then." Remy thought thoroughly before choosing his words. Just then, the trains pulled to a stop, a rather unexpected stop that made Henri lose his balance. Remy refrained from laughing and shook Rogue.

"Hey, Rogue, we're in San Franscisco" he said, dripping with southern accent. She stood up, realizing the position she had been in.

"Thanks," she said quickly. "It was nice meeting ya" she said as she took her large duffel bag and went to the front of the train to get off. Remy considered for a second following her, but the glance from Henri told him that it was best for the two to keep going on their own.

"Nice to meet you too, Rogue" he called to her, she turned and smiled at him before heading on. She risked a glance at Henri but regretted it, seeing his stone hard face looking menacingly towards her.

"Oh, Ah took mah wallet back" she said to Henri, just to piss him off some.

"It was empty anyways!" he called, she didn't look back again and continued on her way. She was greeted by a soft breeze that was blowing in the train station, she pulled her hoodie over her head and made her way to the streets. She saw immediately many protesters walking by making their way to the Worthington Clinic nearby. She tried to blend in amongst them and soon enough was standing besides the one clinic that defined it all: buildings its way towards the entrance there was a line with some regular looking people alongside what could've been some Morlocks. There was a railing that was holding back the protestors, while an anchor was talking to a camera in front of it. She remembered the first time she saw Warren Worthington announce the cure over national television, it seemed so long ago.

She was awed by the lovely architecture of the building. She stood in the middle of the sidewalk opposite the building, not sure if she was ready to start to be in line amongst the others. The people would soon enough point at her so she decided that it was best to stand in line as well.

She was looking at the sky when all of a sudden a pair of wings escaped through the window and flew downwards, _he's gonna crash!_, she thought. Unaware, as she thought of a way to save him, her hand shot up and held him by the only piece of metal he had, his belt buckle. She let go, suddenly realizing what she had done, he flew on and went towards the bridge, she saw him as far as she could. But then she realized, some mutants still need a place to go. She did something she had only done a few times: thinking hard about Magneto she managed to elevate herself towards the sky, several awed faces around her screamed as well. She looked down,

"Gawd, I'd forgotten I don't like heights" she told herself, but soon after she recollected her thoughts and moved towards she saw the angel go through last. She looked around for him and followed wherever she could. She found herself hovering over the golden gate bridge trying to think of where it is that he had gone. She looked around unable to find him.

"Great, now he's gone" a voice not her own said for her. She realized that Magneto was taking over and pushed him back a bit, what she hadn't realized was that doing so would also make her lose her balance in the air. She started falling. She screamed a scream worthy of Siren as she saw the bridge coming closer and closer. _Gawd, this is not how I pictured dying… _

She closed her eyes ready for the crash, she heard a flutter nearby and crunched her eyes even more. "Gotcha" somebody said seconds before she was going to be crushed.

"Gawd!" she said quickly. Someone was holding her, no wait, the angel was holding her. She looked at him. "Wow" was the only thing she managed to say as she saw his wings expand and move every so often along with the wind.

Soon enough they were reaching ground and he set her down.

"Wow," she said again, "thanks! You're an angel" was she only thing, not the cleverest she'd ever said, but she said it.

"Well, people usually just call me Warren" he answered. She looked at him.

"Can't imagine why ya wouldn't want wings" she said, as her enthranced at her wings, he spread them full length just to show her. She was getting her hand nearer. Just before she touched them, she took her hand back towards her side

"I'm sorry," was the lame words that she came up with. She pretended to blush, and looked down, but no color rose to my face.

"Don't worry, you seem awed, not scared" he told her, "Not many people get that reaction, at least the ones I've met" he said, closing them again and sitting down.

"I love being able to fly" he commented. She followed suit and sat besides him.

"I'm a bit afraid of heights" she answered.

"But you were flying too" he said to her.

"I've only done it about three times" she commented. "It's actually a borrowing thing and I can't do it on my own" she answered.

"Oh" he said. He continued to look at the horizon, as if waiting for something else out of the ordinary to happen. She glanced upwards too.

"You know, I didn't catch your name" he made conversation again.

"Mah name's Marie, but most people just call me Rogue" she said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear as she did so.

"Rogue?" he asked puzzled. "What is that, your mutant name?" he asked. She nodded.

"Ever since my powers manifested I didn't quite feel like myself" she answered.

"Why's that?" he asked.

"I can't touch people" she said. He looked sadly at her.

"That sounds terrible" he commented. She nodded slightly.

"Yeah, that's why I want the cure" she said to him. She looked down at her gloved hands, tugging on each finger.

"I could…" she looked at him. "Pull some strings so you can skip the line" he offered.

"How's that?" she questioned.

"My father" he answered, a bit of hatred in his voice.

"What about him?" Rogue asked.

"Warren Worthington" he replied,

"You're Warren Worthington's son?" Rogue exclaimed.

"Yeah," he said unwillingly.

"Oh, he got the cure for you but you don't want it…" she said He nodded.

"What now?" he said "He hates me, I can't really go back to him, he doesn't like me for who I am and I don't know where to go" he said.

"You'd be more than welcome at the place I left" Rogue told him.

"Where's that?" he asked her.

"Xavier Institute" she said. "It's like a boarding school, but it's so much more at the same time. It's a safe place, it was my home for a long time. But I can't go back now" she said.

"Why's that?" he said.

"Because I aren't gonna be a mutant for much longer" she smiled, thinking about the cure and being able to touch again really did bring out a smile on her.

"Oh, right" he said. "And where is this Xavier institute?" he asked,

"Upstate New York" she told him. "You should go" she told him. "I have somewhere to be too" she said making to stand up.

"You know, I don't know that many mutants, heck I don't know any other mutants" he said. "It was nice talking to you" he said. She smiled and nodded.

"Same here. Good luck with everything" she said to him.

"Hey, you sure you don't want to skip the line?" he offered her. She considered for a few minutes.

"Well, why not" she finally agreed. They both smiled.

"So, tell me a bit more about yourself" she asked of him, he smiled broadly and they started talking as they made their way down to the city again.

"Well, I play the violin" he said.

"Really? Awesome, I used to play the piano when I was a kid" she said to him.

"But I haven't played in a while; my father has had me with this whole cure thing for a long time." He told her.

"Oh, sucks" she said. "Have you always lived in San Francisco?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"Since I was fifteen I live half of the time in Boston with my mom" he told her. "My parents split up when I was fourteen." He told her. "How about you? Where did you grow up?" he asked her.

"Well, I'm originally from Mississippi, she said, for about half a year I lived on the road, my parents kicked me out when my mutation manifested. I traveled all the way to Alberta. Then I met another mutant and after a few weird events I ended up living in Westchester" she said to him.

"A few weird events?" he asked her. She nodded.

"Have you heard of Magneto? Off course you have" he was nodding his head.

"A few years back before he was so high and mighty as today he had this plan to turn the worlds greatest into mutants, and to do so he build this machine, I'm not sure how it worked, but he needed someone that had his abilities to power up the machine, so basically he wanted to sacrifice me. But the X-men saved me." She told him.

"Who are the X-men?" he asked. "Just wondering"

"Hmm… a group of mutants that believe in the possibility of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants that try to protect everybody" she said. He looked at her.

"Were you ever one of them?" he asked.

"Not really, I mean, I trained and became a pledged member but I never really went to save the world with them" she told him.

"Wow, that sounds amazing" he said awed.

"Yeah, I guess it was" she told him. "But, hey, we're talking about me again!" she exclaimed.

"Guess my life isn't really very interesting" Warren mumbled.

"Aw, come on" she said. "Anything?" she proposed.

"Um, I once traveled to Costa Rica" (had to) he offered.

"Interesting, I've always wanted to go to a Caribbean island" Rogue said excitedly.

"Costa Rica is not an island" he told her.

"Oh, sorry" she said.

"Many people think so, which really pisses off the locals" he commented.

"And what kinda stuff can you do in Costa Rica?" she asked.

"Um, I went to like five museums while I was there, my father was there to meet some research scientists. But they have the most cool beaches, I want to go diving, but I didn't know how, so I settled for a boat trip in Guanacaste, they have five stars hotels there." He told her.

"But the people are the greatest, they're so interesting and… well, nice. You don't see uninterested and helpful people around here as much" he said. "Well, you being the exception" he told her.

"Why, thank you" she said. "You seem quite nice yourself" she answered. He laughed.

"Well, I can't think of anything else. I mean, there's so much to do there, but I wasn't able to do much. Basically I had to stay put at this hotel, even though we were there for two weeks."

"That does sound depressing" she offered.

"Well, not really" he said. "I went to the mall a few times and there were many other tourists and many local people, it was fun" he said.

"Sounds good" she told him. He suddenly looked up and sighed. She looked too.

"Worthington Clinic" she said to him. He nodded.

"Well, let's go" he said, not sounding very convincing, but she followed him anyways.

"Warren, you don't have to do this" she said.

"Come on, Rogue… Don't you wanna be Marie again?" he offered her a smile. She smiled again, unable to hide the glow that rose in her eyes at that offer.

"Yeah, Ah guess Ah do" she responded thickly. He pulled her in and they both went inside.

"Good Morning, Mr. Worthington" a lady sitting behind the front desk addressed him.

"Hey, Fran, do you know where my father is?" he asked her.

"He went to take care of some business at the labs" she said to him, he nodded.

"And is Dr. Rao with a patient right now?" he asked. She checked a screen in front of her.

"Yeah, one just now and then she's getting off for today" she told him.

"great, thanks!" he said and pulled Rogue towards the elevator.

"Whoa, hold on" Rogue said as she tried to keep up. The elevator closed and it speed up as they went higher into the air. Sooner than she expected the doors opened again.

"That was fast" she said.

"Not really" he said. "At least when you compare it with your own speed when flying up" he smiled. He got out and into an extremely lit hallway.

Rogue followed after him through the place that seemed to not end.

They were standing outside a door.

"What now?" Rogue asked him.

"She's with someone right now, but she'll see you as soon as the other patient steps out" he told her. She nodded and settled upon the wall behind her.

"Are you sure this is all right? I mean, isn't there paperwork and other stuff that needs to be done first?" Rogue asked, for a second having a few second thoughts.

"Nah, that's just because the government want to keep track of which mutants they can consider safe now, but you don't really need it. You're not a threat on the government list" he said jovially. Her eyes fell.

"Warren, I just might be" she told him. "I don't think that not doing all that stuff is right…" she told him. His excitement faded for a second.

"Oh, right… but it can be done afterwards" he offered.

"That works for me" she said. They stopped talking as the door opened. A young woman in her mid twenties with long blonde hair and ice blue eyes emerged, looking very happy.

"I'm cured!" she said, bouncing happily in the air. "Doctor, thank you so much!" she turned to the other woman leaving the room with her. She looked like she could fly away from all the electricity flowing through her. She saw the both of them standing there and did the first thing she could think off.

She grabbed Warren and tried to pull him up. "Nothing! Just normal!" she said. Dr. Rae smiled at her, noticing the two.

"I'm cured!" she pressed her face to Warren's and held him with her hands. "No more breaking the door down, no more accidents at work!" she said to him. Warren smiled at her and she let go. She turned to Rogue with her still radiant smile.

"Never again!" she said joyfully as she pulled on Rogue and hugged her tight, Rogue barely had a second to register that she wasn't aware what was going on.

She hadn't remembered that since flying her hoodie came down and her entire neck and face was exposed. She felt the thoughts of the woman draining into her. She tried to pull back, the doctor looked at her pleased with the happiness of her most recent patient. Rogue looked bewildered at Warren to do something.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"What?" the doctor said in an accent Rogue didn't recognize. "Carol?" she asked.

Carol was completely knocked out. Rogue kept trying to push her, but she had held on so tightly. She was in pain too, all the memories, powers and thoughts that were not her own flowing into her.

"Get her off me!" she was finally able to come to her senses. Warren hurried besides her and pulled Carol off. She was unconscious. Rogue was panting and held herself to the wall.

The doctor got down besides Carol to try and find a pulse. "Oh God, her pulse is so weak." She managed to say. "What could've gone wrong?" she said as she looked at Warren that was also besides Carol.

"I'm okay" a voice different than the slight southern accent that Warren had been used to hearing all afternoon long came forth from Rogue.

"Rogue?" Warren got up and looked at her concerned.

"My name is Carol, handsome" Rogue said incorporating herself again. Dr. Rao was blinking trying to understand things as she saw Rogue address herself as someone else. "Thanks you a lot, Dr. Rao" she said and started down the hall again.

"Rogue!" Warren called to her.

"Whose Rogue?" she said again and continued on.

"Wait!" Warren said, trying to understand what just happened.

"What is it?" she asked again.

"Rogue, try to be yourself" he asked of her.

"Look, pretty boy, I have a lot of work to do and this time my powers won't get in the way for the first time" she said to him. Rogue tried to pick him up, and effortlessly took him over her head.

"Oh, no, they're back" she said. She pulled him down again.

"I don't understand" Dr. Rao was still down the hallway with the body of Carol.

"I do" Warren told her. "She's absorbs other people through her skin, and Carol bounced her" he told her. "Is she all right?" he motioned towards the unconscious Carol.

"No, she's dead" Dr. Rao said coldly, trying to take her pulse for the last time.

"Doc, give me shot again, I don't understand what just happened…" Carol / Rogue said.

"Rogue!" Warren tried to bring her to herself again. He shook her violently trying to get an answer. "Rogue!" he said again.

"Damn, Ah heard ya, Warren" she said again. He was relieved that it was her again but was also troubled about what had just happened.

"Rogue, don't freak, you only absorbed Carol's powers for a short time" he told her.

"Gawd, this is not good" she said. "Damn, her mind is so strong" she said to them.

"Okay… Um, Rogue, do you still want the cure?" he asked her.

"More than ever" she said and tried to smile, but her scrunched up eyes said otherwise.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Just a headache" she said. "Is she okay?" she asked him quickly.

"We don't know" he lied. "Dr. Rao called to get a few nurses to come help out."

"Okay" she said, still holding her head. "Can she fix me meanwhile?" Rogue asked. looking at the doctor.

"Yes" she said. "Warren, stay with Carol, the nurses shouldn't be long."

Once inside, Rogue was thinking simply of pushing the psyche back, this was someplace along the lines of when she had absorbed Magneto, nearly killing him.

"Are you sure about this?" Dr. Rao said as she prepped the shot. Rogue nodded.

"It's what I've been waiting all my life" she said.

"Fine, this might hurt a bit" Dr. Rao told her as she swabbed her forearm with alcohol. Rogue was still holding her head with the other hand when the needle went in. She felt the pressure as the needle emptied the contents of the vaccine in her bloodstream. She bit her lip, to make sure she didn't scream.

"All done" Dr. Rao said. Rogue was hoping for her headache to be gone along with her powers, but it wasn't.

"Really? It was that easy?" Rogue asked. Dr. Rao nodded.

"Do you want something for the headache?" she offered. Rogue nodded. As Dr. Rao browsed amongst cabinets for some painkillers, Rogue felt a bit incomplete. _Well, yeah, that part of me that had isolated me has now left me. _

"Here you go, just swallow it" she said produced a small light blue pill. Rogue threw it towards her throat and knew it would take a while for it to make effect.

"Thank you" Rogue said and started to leave. She thought maybe Warren would be out when she was done, but he wasn't. She made her way to the elevator and went down and soon enough was on the streets again.

* * *

She looked around and knew that this was a turning point in her life, know she had to chose what is what that she'd do from now on. Could she return to the X-men? What if she started new and went someplace nobody knew her and put her whole past behind her? Or maybe, go to the beginning and try to find her parents in Mississippi? She saw she sun set on the ocean as she thought about all the possibilities. Disappear somewhere nobody knew her was so tempting, but she didn't have the documents, money or possibility to go anywhere. She had spent most of her money in being able to come her. She knew that people at the mansion would receive her with open arms, but she didnt' want to see Bobby, nor Storm with that "there's nothing wrong in any of us" idea of hers, she knew that she'd look at her with hatred in her eys for taking the cure. But Wolverine would understand, understand that is wasn't an act of cowardice, but rather of bravery to give up the part of herself that made her special because she wanted to be able to have fun just like anybody else. She thought of Remy, maybe she could try to run into him again and take off him with, she knew enough about boys to notice he seemed caring enough, but that nasty brother of his... She then thought ot Warren, would he take her advice and go to Xavier's or would he stay behind trying to be the perfect kid for the family that resented him? She didn't notice a stray tear leave her face.

The headache was gone, but she knew that the cure had fixed only her skin, because she could still kinda sense all the psyches inside her. She had hoped that that would end too, but that was jsut wishful thinking, the real reason was to be able to touch. She looked in the horizon once more as she saw the last sunrays leave the sky. She wiped her face withe back of her hand and took a decision: she was going to start all new, but before that she needed to find closure, go to Xavier's one more time to tell them that she wasn't coming back.

She turned her duffel bag, it turned out had been a good idea to strap over her head all day long, given the different things she had done. She unzipped it hoping to get her wallet out and see how much money she had to try and find a room somewhere. But she was more than surprised by how much money they was.

"Great, and where exactly am I supposed to look for them?" she asked herself as she saw a duffel bag full of money instead of her own. In her quickness to leave the train she must've mistaken her bag for one of theirs.

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Please review!

AN: yeah, i know that her meeting Warren doesn't exactly fit the movie timeline, but bear with me, it was for a good purpose after all.


	8. Awfully Alive

Yay! I found the stupid papers on which i had written this and thought i'd lost. That's what happens to me for using paper instead of typing. Hope you like this, I know it's short, but i tried for many things to happen.

Enjoy!

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CH8

"Merde" he cursed loudly when he unzipped the bag to check its contests for the last time before the exchange. Henri looked up at Remy furious.

"Quoi?" the younger brother asked, Henri shoved the bad under his face: coats for varying temperatures, different types of gloves, her portable PC, several shoes and even a few lacy bras that no guy had ever seen on her. He imagined what that would look like for a few moments, before Henri smacked him over the head. (What)

"Maintenant, quelque planez-vous?" Henri asked irritably, he wanted to have the money and for the exchange to occur as fast and simply as possible. (Now, what's the plan)

"Je ne sais…une moment! Le laboratoire avec le curée… comment s'appelle? War… Werth.." Remy stumbled on the name. (I don't know… Wait! The lab with the cure… What's its name?)

"Mon Dieu! C'est on tout le TV, comment toi oublie? Worthington Lab! " Remy nodded. Henri zipped it again as they went out to the streets again. Finding the place wasn't hard with all the media, protesters and mutants trying to get near. There was also a few law enforcement officers, make that about fifty. He inconspicuously went to the end of the line and started to search for her uncommon reddish brown hair with white bangs. A general feeling of conformity and loss pounded at his head, there was so much more than just simple fear of their powers for those that poured into Worthington Labs. (Geez, it's over the TV, how can you forget?)

He saw her, she had a hoodie pulled close over her head like so many looking desperately for anonymity. Trying to find a lack of prejudice for who they are. Her white hair blew in the wind a few times before she pulled it back quickly. He got out of line and walked by the other sidewalk space, he was just about to call to her when a very loud shattering was heard overheard and soon enough on the ground to.

Remy ducked by instinct, but he was nowhere near harms way. He saw wings, saw someone falling. Someone in the line, possibly a telekinetic, elevated an arm to stop him from crashing. But it didn't come. The winged man gained equilibrium at the very end and flew away.

He watched for the longest time, as did the rest of both sides of the crowd: media newscasters and activists, police and mutants soon to be human. He turned and she was gone, a few gasps and disbelieving eyes pointed upwards told him he wouldn't be able to follow: Rogue could fly.

* * *

She didn't feel like spending any more money on a hotel, so she simply wondered the streets. She stopped for a corndog when she got hungry. After walking a bit more her rumbling stomach insisted it was not enough. She went into the next half-decent, small restaurant. She didn't remember she liked spicy food, but then again maybe she didn't. She ate deliciously anyways.

A few blocks away, Remy had a hunch. "Frère, où est le restaurant toi mange dans toi premier visite á San Francisco?" Henri was baffled by the question but answered anyways. (Bro, where was the restaurant you went the first time you came here)

"Cést Mexican, je pense qu'il s'appelle Mojito Place" Remy nodded.

"Bien, let's go" he said. (Good)

"Elle y a" Remy said upon entering the place. He walked over to her slowly, he knew it was impossible to pass undetected so he reached a chair near to her at the bar and engaged her in conversation. (There she is)

"C'est chair, ne mettre pas?" (is this chair taken)

"Non" she replied, her palm flew to her hand. She turned. For one, she did _not_ know French. Deux, they spoke to her in french and she understood. Trois, she knew that voice. (No… two… three)

"Remy!" she said, partially glad for a familiar face, partially surprised. She saw Henri close nearby. She thought to push the bag on them and leave quickly.

"Relax, I ain't gonna 'urt you" he said.

"Remy didn't know you could fly" Remy told her as he settled on the empty chair. She shook her head.

"Not me, someone else" she told him. "Borrowed power, but I won't be doing it again… ever" she told him looking truly happy.

"Toi est curèe?" he asked. An unaccented oui responded. Then she thought for a second. "Aujoird'hui dans le soirèe" she did that by pulling on Henri's psyche. (You're cured?... Today in the afternoon)

"Oh! I believe I took your bag by mistake" she said as if finding a bagful of money was everyday stuff.

"Oui, I noticed" he said patting the bag to the other side of him. (yes)

"Bien, maintenant je will go to… toi sais" Henri said grabbing both bags. "Use protection" he whispered in Remy's ear before he left. He smiled. "N'est pas necessaire" he called. Marie's face looked puzzled. "He won't be coming back" (now I… you know…. It won't be necessary)

They stayed talking for a long time, phony mariachi music playing in the background.

"So, the memories, they're tout gone?" he asked. (all)

"No, they are still there. But I can touch" she half smiled. He responded with a smile. She was still wearing gloves. For some reason, being a blonde journalist kept coming back every other minute no matter how much she pushed against it. She even talked a few times, Remy didn't notice, not really, not yet.

"Cuates, you leaving soon?" a guy with a heavy accent tried to make them leave, the rest of the place was empty and half ready to close up.

Marie grabbed her bag and Remy stood. He placed a few bills on the table. They started to walk, but Rogue placed a hand to her forehead and scrunched her eyes, momentarily unable to control de headache.

"Are you all right, chère?" Remy asked her as he held the door himself. (dear / honey / whatever)

"Yes, I should just be going back to my place" her accent changing completely.

"Marie, don't you live clear across the country?"

"Whose Marie?" she asked. Remy was slightly puzzled.

"Nice to meet you, handsome. But I must be going" she said again.

"Wait" he shook it off and walked behind her. "The streets may be dangerious at this time of night, let me escort you" He smiled slyly.

"I'm a big girl" she said. "Besides, walking with a stranger might be just as dangerous"

"Stranger? I think we're well past that" he replied, now he was confused. "Marie, are you okay?"

"First time it was funny, second time it isn't. Who is Marie?"

"You are!" Remy was frustrated.

"No, I'm Carol" she replied "What's with this headache…" she shook her head again.

"Ah'm sorry, Remy" she stated, suddenly changing and recognizing him again. "I don't know why her psyche is in control sometimes" Rogue replied.

"How do you mean?" Remy asked.

"I touched her just before taking the cure, apparently the psyches stay, but I can touch" she informed.

"No fun" he said. They were walking aimlessly around the mostly dormant town except for a few bars.

"It's this" she stated, tapping her temple. "It's crowded, and this Carol person is so strong, it's as if I absorbed all of her."

"How can that be?" he asked. She shrugged. She didn't know, she had always been afraid to kill someone, but so far it seemed that it wasn't possible… She never knew if Paul loved, but asides from that.

Remy looked at her deep in thought. He felt that it would be invasive to talk just then. He settled for walking besides her. She walked aimlessly, fumbling with her feet from side to side and one hand constantly adjusting the bag on her shoulder. After a long while of observing her, he looked away. He trusted all went well with Henri, but he knew his brother to e more than capable. After a while, she let out a sigh. This got his attention once more:

"Ah think Ah killed her"

* * *

"What do you mean she's dead?" Warren asked, they had kept trying to revive her all the way to a clear ER.

"I don't understand. What killed her?" he didn't understand.

"We don't know, but she's dead. The charts show something impossible. It's like her life was sucked out of her. Her superficial venous system stopped circulation and it spread to her heart. When blood stopped arriving, and not enough was pumped back." The med student on call explained. Apparently the head doctor was called on a delicate situation in a cure ward.

"Many cells did likewise in other organ, but we can't be sure until the labs get back." For a med student, he was awful sure of himself, or full of it. Warren wasn't sure.

"Okay, there isn't much left to be done here" Warren announced as he stood up, annoyed at him. "Have a good day" he said sarcastically as he left, taking one last glance to the dead body of Carol Danvers. For some reason, he couldn't help thinking that Rogue committed the murder she had always been afraid her powers would cause just before she let go of them.

* * *


	9. Affection Alighted

Hey! so so sorry for seemingly abandoning this story, i got writers block, then i got finals, then i spend vacations writing original fiction, then again classes, now i am free and am set to finish this story soon! I actually have the end written, but i'll be posting kinda slowly anways.

thanks to those who reviewed: Pyrowhore, GabrielsDoubt and lovestoread.

* * *

CH9

"Maybe she does not want to be found" Logan told the rest of them.

"Since when are you the one to tell?" Bobby snapped at him. Logan lowered his cigar and perked his eyes.

"Since I talked to her before she left…no, wait, since she saved my life" Logan growled at him.

"Well, I don't know who you think you are but I want to find her" Bobby screeched at him.

"Good luck with that" he said before turning and walking out on the rest of the students. "No point wasting time with you"

"What the hell? Where is she?" Bobby rounded on the other two. Kitty bit her lip, but she knew all to well that she did not want to piss him: she wanted the cure.

"Bobby…" she tried to reason with him.

"I won't hear it!" he said. He fumed and puffed a few times.

"Bobby, chill" Storm finally interrupted. "Right now we have more pressing matters, and we have all seen that Rogue can take care of herself." She explained to him. Bobby looked pissed but kept his mouth shut.

"It's not like her to not tell me where she went" colossus held back a laugh resulting in a snort which he covered with a cough.

"Excuse me" he said and left the room. Storm looked keenly at him, knowing that as Rogue and Bobby's relationship had been coming downhill, Kitty and Bobby was not the only thing to be noticed between the junior X-men.

Colossus made his way back to the kitchen, thinking that any thing to take his mind off the possibility of Rogue coming back at all and having to face Magneto in a few hours. Bobby was about to face Magneto and he was worrying about a girl. Not his girlfriend, because they had lost that so long ago.

"Colossus" Logan greeted him as he entered the kitchen. The Wolverine was downing a beer. Colossus thought how much he missed the vodka he used to have at home. He opened the fridge and produced a Dr. Pepper. He sat across from Wolverine.

"She needs the cure" was the only thing that Wolverine said.

"She needs time away from Bobby" Piotr confessed.

"She should have thought this through." Wolverine said more to himself.

"I'm sure she had plenty of time" he contributed.

"I just hope she's not doing this for some boy" Wolverine thought.

"Oh, trust me, she's not" Colossus told him. Metal was such a moldable and extraordinary substance… his mind wondered. "You think she'll come back?" he looked at Wolverine.

"Don't" he started to consider his answer. A sudden memory made him smile. "Don't know or don't care" he said as a smile that rarely crossed his face appeared.

"What?" Colossus said.

"Don't know or don't care. That's the first thing she ever said to me. I caught her sneaking a ride in my wagon. She needed a ride, thought I might help her. I was about to say I don't care when she interrupted me. Don't know or don't care. Pretty spunky, back then, before Magneto and all."

"Yeah, she tends to do that" he gulped down the last bit of Dr. Pepper, "Come and go"

"Maybe she'll come. But not for any of us, for herself" Wolverine considered.

Colossus remained silent.

"You two ready?" Hank interrupted the two of them. "We leave in fifteen"

* * *

"Whoever shot that must be getting a few grands for every news channel to use that" Rogue told Remy.

They had drifted into another bar, then after being kicked out again, sat in a bench with a view for San Francisco Bridge. Or what would have been the bridge. It was not there.

"Magneto" Rogue said. But they settled around there anyways. It was not too cold and it was away from the disaster that happened that night.

Now, the next morning. They were taking a walk around. It was amazing, how the city had changed and the aura of destruction around them.

"Handsome, lighten up" Rogue told him. Carol was used to Remy, but Rogue was not used to Carol. After her spacing in an out, she had talked to Remy more than a few times and she did not try to run away when seeing him anymore.

"Pardon, I was just thinking about mon frère" he said. (sorry.. my brother)

"Oh, could something have gone wrong?" she asked. They walked away from the shop with TVs towards a quieter part of town.

"Non, but you worry with these kinds of things" he said.

"Sorry" she said.

"Rogue," Remy wanted to make sure before he asked. She looked at him, her eyes vibrant: it was definitely her. "What makes you think you killed her?" he asked. She stopped walking.

"A psyche usually calms down after a few hours. I feel as if I touched her a second ago" she said. Remy nodded. "Don't worry, Rems, I can handle it" she said.

"Bien, you can't blame a homme for worrying." She smiled. (man)

"Thanks" she beamed at him. He took her hand, and after getting used to the feeling of someone holding her hand, her actual skin, she felt a huge weight shift off her shoulders. "Really, thank you so much"

"Don't mention it" he said.

"Can I touch you?" Rogue asked.

"Excuse-moi?" he said. Rogue chuckled. (excuse me)

"Your face" she explained. He smiled, then nodded.

Her hand hesitated for a moment before wondering over his cheek, then chin, then wondering around his neck. It was warm, and his slight stubble felt like nothing she had ever sensed before. Her father and Cody were both clean cut.

He looked at the pools forming in her eyes as she felt him. He tried to keep a straight face, but it didn't last long. He reached his own hand to hers at a certain point.

"That tickles" he said.

"Sorry" came her response.

"It's okay, though" he continued. His other hand traveled her arm and neck, reaching exposed skin. "It feels good" he whispered to the hand near his lips. Rogue felt a sudden feeling that she had never experienced from someone else. Was that what getting turned on felt like?

She took back her hand from his face. Smiling at him she reached his free hand and they continued their promenade.

They walked aimlessly for a while, talking nonsense and trying to keep Carol out of their business.

They noticed on a few occasions that there were cops that had found a couple of mutants that had survived last night hiding in dark alleys.

"They're lucky, I would not have wanted to be someone on the same mile within Jean last night" Rogue considered.

"That's right" Remy said, checking every other alley to see if maybe another mutant had found a spot to recover. Rogue kept at his side, making sure that there were no cops on to them.

"Rogue! There's someone in here!" Remy called to her. Making a double check before submerging herself in the darkness, she followed Remy. It was already dusk, so they really were working mostly in the dark.

"I can't see a thing, Remy" Carol said. Remy rolled his eyes and focused, he could see in the dark, his eyes weren't just pretty.

"Shove it, Carol" he said and shook her head carefully.

"Sorry" a voice he liked much better said.

"Rogue?" a rasp came from the body that Remy was checking to see if it was unconscious or conscious.

"John?!" Rogue exclaimed.

"It's cold" he rasped again. Rogue pulled a hand to his face and found his wrist with another to feel his pulse.

With the help of Remy, she helped him to sit up. She took off her coat and placed it around him.

"Last place I'd expect to find you" he chattered.

"Shh, I'll help you" she said to him.

"Who is this?" Remy asked her.

"A friend" she said shortly.

"Remy, a match!" she asked of him.

"Quoi?" he asked.

"Now!" she said.

"Okay, chère, okay" he said as he produced his matchbox and cigarettes.

"John, you with me?" Rogue asked. He nodded slowly.

"Yeah…" he stated too softly.

"I hope this works" she said. She dug deep for Johns psyche, one of the few that she had complete control over. She did not even know if this would work without her powers. She lit a match. Concentrating on it, she made the heat but not the flame engulf all three of them.

"It's getting hotter" Remy said to her. She nodded.

"That's the plan" she said softly to him. He stood beside her, one arm and hand on her arm.

"Do you know what you are doing?" he said again. She shook her head.

"I'm counting on him to help me once he has enough energy" she said to him.

"John?" she raised her voice again.

"Yeah" his voice was a bit louder and clearer.

"Can you control this flame?" she asked. "Just keep it as it is, don't try to strain yourself to make it bigger" she said to him. He nodded, fire was his element, off course he could do anything with it.

Remy leaned forward and saw that the guy really was taking in the flames energy.

"Interesting… is he a fire maker?" he said louder.

"No, fire manipulator." Rogue filled it. "He can only manipulate it, not create it" she informed him.

"As can you" John snidely remarked to her.

"Apparently I still can, Johnny" she said to him. He made a weird sound with his throat at that nickname.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked her, coming out of his daze. He could see clearly now that it was Rogue and someone else trying to help him. The other guy was half way lying cozily with Rogue. He had eyes like the demon. However, Rogue's hand was on his cheek, feeling the temperature slowly rise within him.

"Remy, can you please open my bag and try to find my winter coat." She asked of him. He moved away from his position on her shoulder and took a step to the side to where she dropped her duffel bag. John readjusted himself and sat up straight against the wall, he was feeling much more better.

"Who is that, Rogue?" he asked again.

"A friend, his name is Remy" she said to him.

"I don't like the way he looks at you" he said.

"Well, you lost any say in the matter the day you left" she said matter of factly, despite however Remy looked at her being irrelevant.

"Rogue, " he started. She placed her hand on his cheek again to make sure he was getting better. He shoved her hand off of him.

"What the hell?" he almost screamed. "I thought you were trying to help me!" he said. He roughly stood up. Remy was standing, the coat discarded the second the other guy shoved Rogue back.

"Remy thinks you shouldn't have done that, homme" he said. (guy)

"Yeah, well, she had it coming" he said, checking over his face. The heat was more than enough now.

"Non" he said.

"Guys!" Rogue said to them, she was standing, completely ignoring the pain on her knee from when John pushed her back.

"Toi c'est bien?" Remy asked her concerned. She ignored him. (you okay)

"I wasn't going to hurt you" she said to him. "Oui, j'ai bien" she answered (yeah, i'm fine)

"Really, that's what you call it now, "not hurt you" You simply pass out!" he said.

"John!" she stated. "Won't you listen!" she asked of him. He raised an eyebrow.

"I… " she started. Suddenly, the words got stuck in her mouth, she couldn't say it. Not to him, not under these circumstances.

"Thought so" he said. Remy ignored the guy and made his way to Rogue's side. He took her hand and moved her chin up. "N'est pas bien" he said simply. (it's not okay)

John was outraged. He decided that was his cue to leave.

"See, why would you even waste your time with me? You found yourself a guy that you can touch," he said.

"Look, homme, she's gone through a lot and she does not need your shit on top of it." he said.

"Oh, excuse me, didn't realize your girlfriend was…" he was, however, cut short.

"I took the cure" she blurted out loud enough. John's expression changed: what would have been surprise and awe evolved to anger, rage, hate.

"Pitiful, you could have done so many grand things" he said to her. She held her head high, and John walked away.

As soon as he was out of sight, she crumbled. She was crying. She had not cried for the longest time. Not since Logan convinced her to stay. She felt Remy's arm surround her and she held tightly to him.

He cradled her for the longest time. She tried to calm herself. After like ten minutes she finished to wipe her eyes and nose.

"So, you gonna tell me know who that jerk whose life you just saved was?" Remy asked carefully.

"Former X-men. He left us for the Brotherhood a few years back. We used to be friends" she said.

"Isn't it terrible when people you know become people you knew?" he asked her, slowly moving his thumb over a couple of stray tears. She nodded. She came to her senses and tried to get back up again.

"Don't Ah look juhst a mess?" she said to him. He passed a hand through her hair.

"No, you look sexy like that" he said to her. She laughed.

"It's dark" she stated.

"It's late" he answered.

"Do you want to find somewhere to sleep?" she said.

"So long as this time it involves actual beds" he asked of her. She laughed and nodded.

* * *

please review!


	10. Armed and Aching

Hola! So sorry that this took so long, my plot nearly died and i had to do CPR to bring her back, but we are on track on, but she is making a slow recovery, so bear with me.

Disclaimer: this is a non profit work... and yes, i love Marvel.

Thank you for those that reviewed last chapter: deadsnowwhite, Always have a little Faith., Roguex1, GabrielsDoubt, JClayton. You guys are all awesome and i love you for reviewing.

* * *

Ch 10

* * *

_She was crouching, waiting for the right moment to sneak up on Mar-Vell, the alien was also readying to attack, unbeknownst to the fact that she was on him as well. There was a machine that she did not quite understand, it seemed to merge plants and what would have been rare metals, though these were probably not rare on this planet. She saw him get distracted when a shot came from the other side of both of them. She chose that moment to act. In the split second in which she grabbed him from behind, there was a loud and blinding explosion._

* * *

_He watched as she went at the simulation robots, she could be lethal when she wanted to. He could not help but watch the slightly movement of her breasts in the tight leather uniform. After a few more kicks, a well- thrown punch and a headbutt, the simulation was complete._

_"Iceman, you're up" Cyclops said to the two guys that had been appreciating her moving her curves. Rogue showed up in the control room in a few seconds. She had a towel around her neck and was removing stray hairs into her bun._

_Bobby smiled at her on his way out. He dismissed the thought of rolling his eyes._

_"So, you did good" he said to her as she sat besides him._

_"Suppose" was her short response. Oh, he'd forgotten: she was pissed at him, what was it for this time? Pinching her butt cheek._

_"Rogue, when are you gonna let it go? So you're hot, can't blame a guy for trying." He considered the idea of taking her somewhere out of this room, or shoving Scott out of it and having his way with her right here._

_"I'm sorry" he whispered again. Even though they knew Scott did not care what the fuck they were talking about, he did not want to be overhead_

_"It's not the fact that you do that kind of stuff, it's the fact that it reminds me of the stuff I want to do that I can't" she said to him, also whispering._

_"Well, there are somethings that don't require skin…" he trailed off. She perked an eyebrow at him. Oh, how he wanted to replace that confused face with one of utter pleasure. He trailed his hand by her thigh, loving the reaction in her, liking it but, still restrained._

_"So, your room or mine later?" he offered her above a whisper in her ear._

_"Well, I don't have roommates to worry about" she said,_

_"Good" he said to her, grazing her upper arm before standing to go to the DR._

* * *

_She was furious, she would not be able to go back to working on the bureau. She slammed her door in anger, unhinging it. she kicked of her boots, making indents on the corner of her armoire. She threw off her glasses, shattering them to a million pieces alongside the glass of the window. She cursed at these unwanted powers, if she was not able to use them to help the bureau, what was she supposed to do? She felt the anger consume her. She opened the fridge, with the small freezer door dangling in her arm, she shoved everything inside looking for ice cream to calm her. After finding it, she readjusted the fridge door before starting to eat furiously. She plopped on her couch, pushing it a bit into the floor._

_Suddenly she just knew what she had to do, rummaging for any of her old spandex uniforms, she decided that she would help the world in her own way, as Ms. Marvel. Honoring the freak that gave her these curses._

_She decided that if the bureau did not want her help, she would not interfere with them, but that does not mean that she would still fight the good fight anywhere she could._

* * *

_He got gloves, he did not care that they were the gloves of his uniform. He wanted to touch her. He knocked on her door, knowing she was going to be fully dressed anyways._

_He had not expected for her to have porn hidden around her room, so he was shocked when she turned to stow away the magazines she had been looking up._

_"So, what did you have in mind?" she asked. He took his cue and asked her if she was sure about this._

_"Don't pretend you're not aware of how you make me feel" was her short response, well, he had been trying._

_"How about a massage?" he offered to her. She gave him a puzzled look. "You strip, I massage" he elaborated. She shrugged and nodded. Taking off her boots and socks, she stood besides the bed and then pulled her shirt over her head, then paused a second too long on her pant button, before releasing all three buttons and lowering them._

_"Will you do my back?" she asked him, turning to lay on the bed giving him a good look at her perky ass before settling face down. He swallowed saliva before taking the cream he had brought with him, oh yes, he had thought his through, and then some. He had stolen about a dozen gloves from the infirmary, he was sure Jean would not notice. He put on a pair and lathered the cream on his hands before placing them on the middle of her back and slowly, searching the knots on her back and working them out. He knew that this was not exactly kinky, but he wanted to make sure that she was appreciating it._

_"Right there" she interrupted his movements, her gloved hand went towards the little dip between her ass and back, "That's where I like it" she said softly. He obliged and his hands traveled expertly southwards, still not touching her butt._

_"Here?" he asked. She let out a small sound of pleasure. He moved carefully._

* * *

_She sat behind her desk, overwhelmed by the stupid notions of her new boss and the huge task that being editor was becoming to her. She placed her hands at the base of the desk. She had not had incidents in a while. She pressed her fingers tightly against the wood, trying to free herself of some pressure. She opened her eyes and sighed. She looked at the desk and cursed. She'd have to change the desk again. The fingers had nearly severed of a whole in the desk._

* * *

_A short while after, he lay besides her, he was still fully clothed, even with long sleeves. He took off the gloves full of cream and moved his hand carefully through her hair. She moaned in response to his sweet caresses._

_"Thought you might like that" he stated._

_"Oh yes" she said to him, her eyes on his. "So… is that all?" she asked. he had considered that his next step depended on her willingness._

_"Erm, well, just if you're okay with this…" he started off._

_"Spill" she asked him, her eyes growing darker with passion._

_"Eager, are we?" he joked to her. "Well, if you'd like to have sex…" he wondered off. "You poisonous down there too?" he asked. She blushed._

_"Ah don't know…" she said. "But I think it's a bad idea to try and find out." She responded._

_"Thought so" he said, getting a new pair of gloves on._

_"So…" she said._

_"Put your shirt back on" he requested. She moved on the bed to pick up the shirt on the side of it. She put it on. He laid half on top of her, him completely dressed and her nearly naked._

_"John, what are you doing?" she asked before he was able to kiss the small of her neck that the shirt covered. He worked through the material of her shirt, which was not exactly thick. He kissed and sucked on her skin through it. His fingers, were tracing small circles on her thighs, getting closer to her center. She was making_

_amazing sounds of pleasure, and as his mouth reached her breast, his fingers reached her center._

* * *

"Oh" she said. She opened her eyes. So long since she had a dream that was actually hers, or was it not hers? For some reason she was giving herself pleasure through someone else, as odd as it sounded.

"You okay, chère?" Remy asked, he was sitting on the other bed in the small room then had found. She blushed and nodded.

"Yeah" she said, sitting up too, her t shirt had ridden up as she slept, she pulled it down before slipping out of the bed and heading for the bathroom.

"Rogue?" Remy called.

"Hmm?" she said.

"Just checking… thought you were having a nightmare by the way you were squirming in there." Her face colored even more, making his second guess the correct option.

"No, no, it was just somebody else's dream" she said. She was not sure if she wanted to tell him that her dream was John's memory of one of their many almost touching sessions.

"Okay" he said, and started shuffling cards.

She came out ten minutes later looking fresh and with clean clothes on.

"You feel better" he stated. She had been heart broken all through last night because of the Pyro incident.

"Yeah, I do" she confessed. She sat on the bed besides him, he paused shuffling cards.

"So," he said.

"I don't want to stay in San Francisco" she said. "This place reminds me too much of why I took the cure" He stayed silent.

"I'll probably go somewhere in the south, get a job, maybe later go to school." She said to him.

"Whatever works for you" he knew that as much as they had clicked the second they met, they each had their own lives.

"What's up, you feel different" she asked of him, ruffling his hair before taking a random card from him.

"I have to go back home" he told her. She nodded.

"Yeah, you do. So, which one am I holding?" she asked mischeviously.

"The trois of spades" he said to her. She shook her head.

"The huit of hearts" he said. She shook her head again.

"The trois of hearts?" he said. She nodded.

"Third time's the charm" he said.

"Guess so" she stated.

"Rogue, whose Mar-Vell?" he asked. She wrinkled her nose.

"I don't know" she said.

"Whose Mar-Vell?" he asked again.

"The scum… it's because of him that I am like this…" she did a loop around her self with her arms. "I was sent on assignment to kill him, handsome, but on the other hand…" she sighed.

"Something went wrong?" he asked, going with the flow.

"There was an explosion, I woke up back on Earth like this a few days later" she said. "Since then, everything's been going downhill" Carol finished explaining.

He took her shoulder and looked at her deep in the eye. Maybe Carol was frightened of his eyes, because he was managing to keep Carol at bay, it was not Rogue who could.

"Sorry, she keeps doing that" she said.

"Rogue, you need help." He said softly. "Anyways, I know who Mar-Vell is" he said to her.

"It's the reason of Carol's powers" he said. Her face fell.

"I need to find out about her before leaving" she told him. He nodded, thinking about his troubles back home. "Remy?"

"You should do what you want to do" he told her. She eyed him.

"What´s on your mind, sugah?" she asked him. He sighed, but decided it was best to tell.

"I'm engaged" he said to her. She didn't react.

"So?" she said.

"I don't even like her" he confessed.

"Why marry then?" she said.

"Family connections" he huffed, igniting one card and deigniting it a second later.

"Oh… forced marriage?" he nodded.

"Oui" he said heatedly, igniting another card. He focused on deigniting it again.

"Why stressed so all of a sudden?" she asked of him.

"If they knew about my powers it would all go away" he said. She bounced off the bed. She knew that she was completely happy now that she did not have her powers, but she still had some unresolved issues to handle.

She moved about the room, getting her handheld out of her bag. She moved with it in her hand while moving towards the phone. She started dialing.

"Who are you calling, chére?" he asked of her. She placed a finger to her lips as the phone rang.

"Hello?" a voice picked up on the other end.

"Hey sugah" she said. She sat on the bed.

"Marie!" he said to her. She smiled towards the other side of the phone.

"How've you been?" she asked him.

"Good, bored, got into another row with my old man" he told her.

"Figures, after your stunning performance day before yesterday" she said to him. "Are you still in San Francisco?" she asked him.

"No, took a plane to Seattle, needed some time alone and it's nearby my college" he told her.

"Oh, I wanted to see you, guess some other time" she asked of him.

"Tell me when and where and I'll get to you." He said to her.

"Well, I wanted to ask in person, but I can ask through the phone." She told him.

"Anything" he said.

"What happened to that girl that was getting the cure before me?" she asked. Warren feared that she'd ask that. She was met by silence.

"Warren?" she asked him. Remy's eyes wondered back to their conversation.

"Warren? Warren Worthington?" he asked. She nodded, and put up three fingers to indicate that she was talking with the mutant and not the CEO.

"Warren?" she asked again.

"She… well, you see, she…" he couldn't find the words.

"She died" Marie told him.

"Yes." He confessed. "Marie, I am so, so sorry. I should have realized what was happening." He told her, completely ashamed of himself.

"Don't worry," she told him half heartedly. "I'll deal with it" she spoke determinedly.

"Marie, I may have forgotten to mention something to you." He started confessing. She listened attentively, ignoring Remy shuffling his cards noisily besides her.

"I am going back to the X-Men, yeah, I know. I just loved the way you were talking about Xavier and all of them too much to admit that I knew exactly what you were telling me" he told her. She dropped her jaw. "The team called me Archangel, and though I have never gone out to save the world with them, I have been around for a while" he confessed.

"Wow, I had no idea, I feel so stupid" she told him.

"Don't, I was the one who acted stupidly for not telling you" he offered.

"You are really going back?" she asked.

"Yeah, I get a feeling that my father will have to cool off a bit before he accepts what happened at Alcatraz." He told her. He paused and she nodded to herself on the other side of the phone.

"Marie, Dr. Rao was killed" he told her.

"Oh, Gawd" she said, covering her mouth up. "How?"

"Brotherhood, she had her whole body punctured, as if a million needles stabbed her at once" he told her.

Spyke, gotta congratulate that jerk, a voice told her inside her head.

"Marie? You there?" he asked her. Inside she was thinking hard, who is Spyke? Who knew him? She has not touched anyone from the brotherhood in a long time. How come she could associate the powers to this one person she never knew?

Oh, she thinks we are the same as the day she absorbed us, ridiculous. We would have been gone if that were so. And Spyke, as dim witted as he is, has done a great service to the Brotherhood. Magneto spoke in her stead. She tried to push him back.

"Marie?" Warren tried again.

Please, you will always know a bit more than I would like you to know, and we all know what that does to you. John commented again, so it was his dream, not hers. Her grip on the phone loosened a bit. She exhaled loudly as the phone fell on the mattress. She could not hold back John and Magneto at the same time.

"Marie?" a closer voice asked her. She took both her hands to her temple. Remy finally looked at her. She seemed to be dueling with herself. He hovered over her. He saw that the phone was still there. And a slight call of Marie came through it.

"Hello" he said into the phone.

"Who is this? What did you do to Marie?" he asked.

"Chill, homme. I did nothing. She has a slight headache. Remy wonders what exactly did you say to get her like this" he asked.

"I just told her how Dr. Rao died. Whats happening?" he asked.

"I believe that a couple of people are fighting for control. Any idea who she might relate the information you just gave her to?" Remy asked, he was getting the jig of this multiple personalities trapped inside her.

"Magneto, and any other member of the Brotherhood" Warren told him.

"Une second" he said to him.

"Magneto?" Remy said tentatively.

"Yes," Rogue's eyes shimmered with something other than usual as her eyes took him in.

"My boy, you seem to have raw potential in you" Magneto declared.

"Oui, I have the potential to blow you away if you don't leave now" he said.

"That's not very nice" he said, as Rogue's hand flew up and the phone cable came to wrap itself around Remy's neck. "And since this is not gone in this body, I feel more like myself here. I think I am staying"

"Rogue!" Remy called for help, but nothing happened.

"I am afraid it is just the two of us, young man" he said.

"Non! MARIE! ROGUE!" Remy screamed for her. But a smug grin came to her face.

"You called me forth without knowing the consequences" he said. "Pitiful, really"

"MARIE!!" he tried one last time.

Warren had had enough on the other side of the phone, he could hear two men talking, and grew concerned for Marie. What the hell was going on? He did not hang up, and the grip on his cell phone just got stronger. He had no way of going there because he had no idea where they were, probably still in San Francisco, but that told him nothing.

Remy had to think fast. He felt himself barely being able to breathe. He quickly threw the phone that was besides him to her, but she just waved the phone away with her hand.

"Not very smart" Magneto spoke. With one last attempt, Remy kicked his leg to her head, hoping to bring her back to her senses.

The grip on his throat fell, but so did she. Maybe he kicked a bit too strongly.

"Merde," he cursed.

"Warren," he spoke into the phone,

"Yeah?" he was still there, furious and impotent.

"Rogue be fine" he told him as he massaged his throat. She almost killed him. He looked at her passed out on the bed before remembering he was still on the phone. He ignored Warren asking what happened and hung up.

* * *

I've seen this done in a few stories, so i am gonna give you guys a hook:

"I did not expect it to get worse" ... "Remy thinks that you made the mistake of thinking your mutation was only skin deep"

"If you weren't so frightened of hurting people, maybe..."

* * *

i had a lot of fun, and did a lot of research for this chapter, so i hope you enjoy and are kind enough to review!


	11. Arcane Angle

Hola! So... my CPR for the last chapter left my plot with some brain damage, she seems to be a bit slow, if you catch my drift. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: this is a non profit work.... and yes, i love Marvel.

* * *

Ch11

Rogue woke up to a massive headache. She pushed her palm to her temple as she tried to push the ache away. As she was trying to not groan out in pain a hand foreign to her came to rest on her head, trying to sooth her as well.

Not knowing what the hell was going on, she forgot about her headache for eight full seconds, enough time to take the hand on her head and twist it back, immobilizing the owner before checking to see who it was.

As she opened her eyes, she regretted doing so.

"Remy!" Rogue released his hand instantly, feeling terrible for forgetting they he had been with her earlier. "I'm so sorry, you just took me by surprise." She said. He rubbed his elbow a bit, but refused to acknowledge she had actually hurt him.

"Nothing's wrong," he lied, _Merde, she's strong,_ he thought though.

"How are you feeling?" He asked her.

"I've got a shitty headache" she announced, letting her hand go back to her temple and try to make it go away, fruitlessly again.

"Do you remember what happened?" he asked her. She thought the question odd.

"I was talking to Warren…" she started off, but cut mid sentence. _What had happened? _"He was telling me that the brotherhood, somebody called Spyke, killed Dr. Rao" she shared, unaware that she had now assimilated the name that Pyro and Magneto had budged on her consciousness.

"And after that?" she tried to remember, the headache tried to block her from remembering but as much as she tried to grasp an image of what happened after that, she could not. She shook her head in defeat, as she lied down on the bed again and crunched her eyes closed.

"Somebody else's psyche took over" he told her.

"Oh, shit, what did Carol do?" she asked. "I have got to do something about that," she said, unaware that doing anything against a psyche in her mind meant she needed of one powerful telepath, and the two she knew were out of the picture.

"N'est pas Carol… it was a man, he seemed to control metal. Warren said he was called Magneto" Remy told her. Rogue gulped, realizing that this was not better than having her powers.

"I did not expect it to get worse" she admitted while she twisted her arms and hugged herself in an attempt to shut the world out.

"Remy thinks that you made the mistake of thinking your mutation is only skin deep" Remy replied as he passed his hand absently through her cheek. She inhaled deeply, more afraid than ever of all the psyches trying to drown her out."You should call Warren again" he said shortly before turning to face the window. She nodded, he felt it because his hand was massaging her temple.

"Maybe that won't be necessary" Remy said softly to himself as he watched an angel fly near their window.

"What time is it?" Rogue suddenly asked. She turned her watch so the dial faced her, but her eyes wouldn't read it.

"Around quatre" he responded simply, still with his hand on her temple.

Then they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Remy stood up, he had been hovering protectively around Rogue, but went towards the door.

"You expecting anyone?" Rogue asked him. He shook his head and looked out the peephole.

"Non, mais that looks a lot like Warren Worthington" he says. Momentarily forgetting about her headache, she got up from the bed and went to the door.

She opened it with a smile. And then her hand went to her temple again.

"Warren! I thought you were in Seattle" she said.

"I flew" he replied quickly."I was concerned, are you all right?" he asked. She tried to nod while still massaging her temple.

"Just a headache" she replied.

"You were the one that hung up on me?" he asked turning to Remy. He nodded.

"Oui, names Remy" he introduced himself and presented Warren his hand to shake it. Warren took it and shook strongly.

"What happened?" Warren asked, looking between the two of them.

"Ah lost control" Marie told the two of them. "Magneto took over" she said, facing Warren but asking Remy to continue the story.

"Je took the phone from you, and asked Messieur Worthington what he had said that caused you going blank." He said. "When I asked if it was Magneto he spoke and tried to choke me."

"Are you all right?" Rogue asked concerned. He nodded. He had been very freaked out, but he had a lot of time to think things through while she was out cold.

"Ah need an Advil" Rogue said as she slumped on the bed again.

"Do you have some in your bag?" Remy asked. Rogue shook her head.

"I'll go ask at the front desk" Warren said and put on the travel cloak that had been hanging on his forearm. Remy nodded and went to kneel besides Rogue again.

"Marie?" he asked. She opened her eyes to him.

"I'm sorry" he said. He grabbed the one hand that was not on her temple and caressed it, she had her eyes painfully closed and her hand suddenly grasped his a bit too hard.

"Sorry… for… what?" she said slowly.

"Kicking you in the head" he said. "I didn't mean to hurt you" he confessed. He pushed aside the hair that was falling in her face and kissed her forehead.

"He would have killed you" was her honest response.

"I was scared. I tried to reach you" he said.

"He's just so powerful…" she said.

Warren had left the door halfway open and came running back up. He had a couple of pills in his hand and he went to get a water bottle from the mini fridge.

"Swallow these, Marie" he said, placing the pills in her now free hand that seconds before had been held by Remy. "here's some water" he offered as well. She drank deeply. Then crouched back to a fetal position.

"Please stay" she asked of both of them. They looked at each other as she continued fighting the headache.

"You think she'll get better?" Warren asked Remy barely above a whisper.

"Je ne sais pas, homme." Remy replied cryptically, looking at her concerned. "Je ne sais pas" ( I don't know. )

"Je suis tres desolee, J'ai …" he started to apologize. (I'm very sorry, I have)

"Non, maintent, elle ne devrait pas tirerle mutation qui elle a." he said, with something between disappointment and hope filling him up. (No, now, she should not have thrown away her mutation.

"Elle sait français?" Warren asked him.

"Non, mais je sais" he replied. Warren knew what he meant with that. She had touched him before. "She's in so much pain anyways, almost unconscious."

"She'd lucky to have you with her" Warren said. Remy considered for a second just what exactly the rich boy was trying to entail in that phrase, but ignored it. He then sat down on a chair and started playing solitaire..

"It'll be long, homme" Remy told Warren. Warren turned on the TV and muted the news.

Remy gave him two minutes before he changed the channel.

* * *

i know, i know. it took me forever to update. and guess what? next will take forever too. But i have to say i loved writing this chapter. Anyone notice my foreshadow?


	12. Acquantainces? Amigos?

Hola! So... Plot is running on a respirator and hooked to an IV, but... stable!!! So here's a good lengthy chapter for y'all.

Disclaimer: this is a non profit work.... and yes, i love Marvel.

* * *

CH 12

_"AH AM FUCKING TRYING!" She screamed at him. He just raised his eyebrows and came closer to her. She could feel her skin tingling, the mix between wanting to get closer and pulling away fast pulling at both her sides. Then his hand reached her neck. And all his thoughts, unwanted, went towards her. She pushed him off as soon as she could. He went directly towards the floor, panting for breath, inhaling loudly. _

_"Ah'm sorry" she said after seeing him regain his strength and sitting away from her. She looked between the two men that were helping her have control, and wanted to kick herself for being unable. The professor came closer, and with his hand hovering over her forehead, trying to delve in. She relaxed to let him in, but Wolverine's psyche was still on the top of her mind, so it was a bit fruitless. _

_"Are you afraid, Rogue?" she shook her head. "Let's leave it here for today" he asked. Logan got up from his seat and she put on her gloves again. _

_

* * *

"You always do as your told?" I told her, knowing that she does anything but, most of the time. She looked at me, begging me not to go with her deep brown, emotionally full eyes. I turned from her, knowing that Bobby is sitting by her, unaware if he suspects anything. She'll be okay without me, I think. _

_I walked away from the jet without once looking made the decision herself, when she allows his barely there hand to simply touch her. And yesterday… she kissed him. The worse part was hearing it from Bobby… I felt like she wanted to kill me. No, the worst part was her touching me… to stop me. Did she have no sense of pride whatsoever? I was doing it for them, for stupid Logan, (who said he was an art teacher, come on!) for idiotic Bobby (who had just kissed his girlfriend) and for her. I already knew how scared she was of cops. Said her foster father was a cop and that all of his department were mutant-phobic. _

_Is leaving really the smart choice? She has Bobby, she won't miss me. She has Logan, too. Who is better than anyone she'll ever meet, in her eyes. I looked back once. I think I did love her. _

_"Argh!!" he yelped in pain as he felt all his worst memories flood him, he fell to the ground, facing the jet, but that helped another type of bad memories to set in. He looked skywards, and held his hands to his head. _

_

* * *

"Look at me," he requested. "Look at me and tell me that you are not scared." _

_"I don't want to hurt you" she replied, scared of how menacing he looked when he was halfway through pinning her to the wall. _

_"If you weren't so frightened of hurting people, maybe you would be able to control it better. You're not really trying if you're thinking of how scared you are of hurting someone. You have to concentrate on the skin, on what you feel, from your side and the other one. Because I know how it feels to be afraid of your own powers. No, don't interrupt me. Listen. List all the factors, think of what you are doing instead of what is rushing in. Get it out of your system if you need it. But don't be scared. Especially of hurting me" he said. She quivered on the spot. He stayed put while she regained herself. She shut her eyes and stopped shaking. Then she tried to move away from the wall. But he was still too close. She thought about what he was saying. She looked into his light blue eyes and the little space there was between them. _

_"I'm ready" she concluded. He closed the distance and his cheek rested against hers. She felt her skin tingling, but focused on blocking the stray images that she had already seen before. Her skins desire to absorb the information through the adyacent sensitive neurons diminishes, and the pull to create more sinapses from the recipient were measured, too. She still saw a few images, but these were few and slow.  
_

_"I knew you could" Logan said. _

_"Thank you" was all the was able to say. Then kids started to pour out of a classroom nearby. They pulled apart from their compromising position and smiled at each other. It was very rare to see a smile on either of them. Logan grinned and winked before heading to the kitchen. Rogue wanted to try again desperately. _

_

* * *

"C'est la vie" his brother shrugged his shoulders and settled with his legs above the desk. He frowned. "You want a number?" he offered as he started to rummage one of his many pockets for a handful of folded napkins. _

_"Non, I will remain true to Merci until she does not want me anymore. Not that I can say the same thing about you..." I replied. _

_"Bella and I have an arrangement. And her end of the deal is much sweeter than mine, I must say." Was his comeback. "She calls, I show" _

_"You two are a disgusting couple" I sneered. Remy smiled. _

_"Well, so long as we keep the families happy, non? After all, il est tout une magnifique illusion." He showed him his teeth in something that was certainly not a smile. (It's all a great illusion)  
_

_"Talking of which, have you guys set a date?" I asked. _

_"Non" he said. _

_"Good, because we still have a few missions out of state that Pere needs us to work together in" I said. _

_"Ou?" he asked. _

_"C'est quatre. Un, going down to Costa Rica. That's a nice flight to Guanacaste, and then traveling by car to Golfito to check on some merchandise that should arrive in two months, nothing too worrisome. After that, we are going to Santa Lucia to close a bank account. After that, we are going to go buy weapons in San Francisco. Lastly, we are stealing something of value that is moving between the Museum of Natural History in New York and National Air and Space Museum." I listed. Remy nodded. _

_"Bien, when do we depart?" he asked his brother greedily. _

_"A few days, so I guess you can sleep with twenty girls from now til then" I bothered. I need to know just why he goes after so many girls when he has Bella. _

_"Why do you sleep around so much?" I asked. _

_"I'm looking for the greatest sex ever, bro" was his short response. _

_"Anything close?" he laughed at me. _

_"Do you think I would settle for anything but?" he replies. I rolled my eyes as he left the room. _

* * *

Rogue noticed that someone had placed a blanket over her, and there was a glass of water with another couple of Advil waiting for her. She stretched on the bed. She opened her eyes to see where Remy was, she did not want a repeat of last time.

However, what she saw was a huge pair of wings settled at the base of the bed she was sleeping on. Oh, Warren had come too.

"Vous êtes éveillé" Remy said as he approached her. Warren turned to face her too. Remy stroked the hair away from her face and reached for the glass of water for her.

"Marie, are you feeling better? Warren asked.

"Yeah" she said, her voice cracking as she spoke. She accepted the glass and pills from Remy. "Mah head hurts less" she let them now.

"You should see a doctor, Marie" Warren suggested.

"I don't know… what if it has to do with me taking the cure?" she said. "I thought that taking the cure would make it all go away, now it's just worse." She said. She noticed the hiccups that interrupted that phrase, knowing well that meant she was jus tabout to start sobbing. This could not be happening to her.

She rolled into a ball as she felt the usual warming in her eyes and heat in her cheeks that indicated she was about to cry. She had not cried for the longest time, and now she is weeping over everything._ Over John, over this stupid cure…_

"Chére…" Remy tried to talk to her. She started crying openly. He somehow found her shoulder as she was rolled up in a ball and slowly caressed her shoulder. "Shh" he told her. For a second, Warren felt that he was not really needed.

"It's all my fault. Logan warned me, to be sure that it was what I really wanted. Now don't know. The voices are so loud, and my head hurts. The psyches are taking over. I don't know what to do, nor who to go for help. The Professor is dead, Dr. Rao is dead. Et Jean est fou. And I don't know why I am speaking in French!!"

"The Professor is dead?" Warren commented.

"Who is that?" Remy asked him below a whisper.

"Charles Xavier, founder of the X-men and the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters" Warren replied just as lowly.

"Can't you two please stop thinking?" Rogue asked from beneath her protective layer of sheets.

Remy decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Chére, can you please look at me?" he asked. She slowly emerged from the covers and looked at him with tear streaked cheeks and rosy face. He concentrated upon looking at her and sent the largest amount of energy he had ever tried.

"What the fuck are you doing?" a male voice erupted from her throat.

"Don't do that, bub" another voice continued, this one had a slight accent, one he could not quite place... even though he had heard that voice before.

"What's the deal, handsome?" Carol emerged as well.

"That's some scary shit" a third male voice said. Remy took a chance and grabbed her hand as he kept trying. He was not exactly sure that he was sure what he was doing, but it seemed to be working.

"Remy, my hand" Rogue asked of him, he released his grip a bit but continued projecting towards her. "What is wrong?" she asked as she wiped her eyes with her other hand. Warren handed her a handkerchief.

"Non, don't close your eyes just yet" he asked of her. She stared into his blood red eyes, feeling calmer as she did it. She felt better. Somehow, those eyes were taking away all the guilt and grief she was feeling. She did not even realize she was not blinking.

He finally looked away. He held her hand, softly letting his thumb sift over the back of her hand. He then suddenly let go and bounced off the bed towards the bathroom. Marie uncurled from her position and sat on the bed, she leaned to see what was happening to him.

"Are you feeling better?" Warren asked concerned. She nodded absently, not daring to get up and stumble again to the floor.

"Remy?" she called.

"Oui, une second" he asked as he continued retching in the toilet.

"Are you okay?" she called, still trying to see what was happening. He threw up again. Warren closed the door to the bathroom.

"I think I should go" he said. Marie looked at him confused.

"What? Wait— Why?" she asked puzzled.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and now I know that you are." He said first. She smiled at that. "But you already have someone taking care of you" he said.

"Oh no, Remy's just a friend" she said to him. he ignored the comment, _Just friends or whatever, the way he was looking at her. The way he has been trying to help her_.

"No, it's not like that. He has a bride waiting for him back in New Orleans" she cleared up. "He just sees me as this stupid vulnerable kid because I can't control Carol, but I'll learn to" she justified.

"Marie, relax, I have not said anything against him" he said, not knowing how exactly she had read his thoughts.

"Right, sorry. I shouldn't have invaded your head" she said. "I'm so sorry about Dr. Rao, Warren" she said. "and Carol, too" she said.

Another lonely tear left her right eye. He was about to wipe it away when he saw it freeze upon her cheek. He ignored the feeling that she was losing it and took it away anyways.

"That was not your fault" he said to her.

"Yes, it was! If I had not gone to take the cure, Carol Danvers would be out there happily living the normal life she had wanted for months!" she explained to him. "And not with the only remaining part of her stuck in my head. I have to keep them out" she said. A pair of fingers went to her temple, in a futile attempt to diminish the headache. However, she gained some leverage on the psyches.

"No, you're seeing it the wrong way." He countered. "If I had not taken you there, none of this would have happened." He said. She looked up at him stunned by his comment.

"How can you even think that?" she asked. He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Well, how can you blame yourself over Carol Danvers and Dr. Rao's fate?" he asked.

"I don't blame myself over Dr. Rao's fate. That was all Spyke's doing" she replied. She then covered her mouth with her hand.

"Spyke?" he asked. She nodded slowly.

"Yes, he is a part of the Brotherhood, Pyro and Magneto know him." she said.

"You were assimilating him… when I told you how Dr. Rao died" he understood. She nodded. _And when I told Remy who probably knew that, they overtook her moment of weakness. _

"That is the first and last time Remy be trying that" he said as he emerged from the bathroom looking much better than when he went in. Warren, who was thoughtfully looking at the wall paint, turned to him. Rogue stood up and went towards him. He then landed on a chair and did not try to move afterwards.

"It worked" Warren said.

"What worked?" Rogue asked.

"Taking away the guilt and pain" Remy filled in.

"Wha— How?" she looked between them. Remy still looked exhausted. Warren looked at him too, he understood what he was doing, but it was not his place to tell.

"Remy be an empath, I can feel and influence your feelings" he told them.

"Is that what this is all about? You feel what I'm feeling and you decided to take pity on me?" Rogue asked, enraged.

"Non! I want to help, chére, really, I do" he explained. "Even if your pain made it easier for me to chose afterwards." He answered truthfully.

"Oh" she said, feeling stupid.

"You guys hungry?" Warren said to break the ice, realizing that Remy was not quite sure what to say, and Marie was trying to stay afloat with the new information. "At least you, you just regurgitated your last meal" he said to Remy.

Marie couldn't resist a laugh at that. Remy only responded with a smirk and putting his coat on again.

"What do you have in mind, Angel?" he asked the winged man.

"Anything, I'll pay" he offered.

"What's good around here?" Marie asked.

* * *

i'm so sorry it takes me forever to update, but i never know when plot is going to talk to me again. He's been saying words in his sleep, and it's up to me to interpret it. i have a test iin a few hours, so this helped get the stress of my back. that and a massage last friday. now all i need is some wham bam and all the information i already have in my head.

thank you for reading! i hope i can write again soon (who knows, i have another test next week)

i hope that if you're kind, you'll review.


	13. Arguably Affectionate

Plot is slowly coming back to life, his first steps out of his sickbed were taken during spring break, but today and yesterday he proved to me that he can walk. So here is something.

Disclaimer: If you don't know you who Stan Lee is, you should not know the X-men, easy as that. It's all his, characters and profit.

* * *

Ch 13

"Do you think she'll come back?" the boy asked Logan. He took a swig of beer, he had grown tired of the soda, and then looked at him.

"I know she can handle herself, whatever her reasons for leaving were" he replied shortly and went outside. A quick glance around the view, a deep gulp of fresh air. Iceman did not follow him out. Good. He knew that something was different, that now this was home. But it was not for her. He knows how it feels to be a wonderer, and maybe that is just what she is. She'll settle someday.

It could just perfectly end there. But heavy footsteps behind him forced him to turn around.

"I over heard what Popsicle said to you" Piotr said, not hiding his disgust. Fooling himself if he think she still cares, he thought to himself.

"Look, I don't want to get involved in a pissing contest between the two of you"

"Ha. No, what I came to say is something completely different." But then he hesitated looking for the right words. "She came to me before leaving. She said that she needed to consider the cure, and to be alone for a while. I know she won't be coming back." He explained. Logan tried to not feel betrayed by this information. She simply told him that she wanted to be able to touch people. And that is open to many interpretations.

"Well, that is one less worry then" he said.

"Nyet, that is not what I meant" he replied. Logan raised an eyebrow, his interest perked. (No)

"Spill, tinman" he suggested.

"She'll be vulnerable if she decides to take the cure. I want to ask permission to go look for her, and to ask you to tell people that I am going on a short break to visit my family." He replied. Logan shook his head confused. Then nodded.

"Spasiba… Thanks" he said as he left. He picked a bag from the floor and went towards the door.

"For being unable to touch, she sure has her way with the guys here. First Bobby, then Johnny, now Petey" he said to himself. He looked back and knew one thing: he was home.

"This is really good!" Marie told them. Remy was still feeling queasy, he ordered but barely touched his plate of Caprese salad. Warren had a Carpaccio and Rogue asked for the chef's pizza at the Italian place that they chose.

"So, I'm going to head south now" Remy said. The conversation had been dull. He had to get going anyways, he actually had to go to New York City, but would rather not tell Marie about that.

"I thought you were going to New York City" Marie asked him. He choked on his drink.

"Quoi? Je ne dit pas" he responded in shock.

"Oh. I'm not supposed to know that." She replied, and turned red. Remy decided that it is definitely pointless to hide something from her.

"What?" Warren asked, not keeping up.

"I know that from when I touched his brother" she replied, and then hid behind a mouthful of pizza to not say anything else.

"Sometimes I wonder how much you know" Remy said, not at all happy about his new predicament.

"More than I'd like to" she conceded, not entirely pleased about it.

"The cure… it did not change the voices in your head" Warren asked in a lower voice.

"No, they are actually louder now" she replied. "And it's not as if I have the professor to help me sort it out now" she told him.

"How did you handle it before?" Warren asked.

"Ah kept them in… cages of sorts, instead mah head" she answered, her accent dripping through.

"And now?"

"They are not staying in their cages, its as if the zoo was left to its own means, the locks are gone" she replied.

"They all want to be in charge" Remy contributed.

"No, not all. I can control most of them, but some are dominant personalities. Magneto, Carol, Wolverine. I have no trouble holding back the others" she answered. That was the voice Remy recognized… Wolverine. She associated herself with him?

"About that, Marie, I did some research…" Warren said. "Carol Danvers, former Air Force Major, used to work for the CIA. Then mysteriously stopped working with them as a field officer and went to have a desk job for NASA. That is where the story gets hard to follow. She meet a man called Captain Marvel, but he was not exactly a man. He was an alien."

"An alien?" Remy interrupted. "What exactly are your sources?"

"You'd be surprised how easily government institutions allow things for you if you have money and a name." he replied with a smirk. Remy smirked right back at him, but kept quiet.

"Money I know can get people to talk" he ventured.

"Okay, continuing please? Ah'm trying to understand this voice inside my head" she explained her urgency.

"Okay, he had an enemy of sorts that was also an alien. Carol was assigned to capture Captain Marvel, but instead found herself in the middle of another fight. When she tried to take him down, it went quite the other way around" he said. He was struggling to remember the name of the confidential folder that he had obtained.

"Something called a Psyche-Magneton exploded, leaving Captain Marvel, the alien, dead. And Carol with his out of this world abilities. Mission Failed" he said. "And again, Carol Danvers lost her job. Now she really stayed at a desk: working as editor for a subsidiary of The Daily Bugle. But she assimilated the powers of Captain Marvel. She was struggling with superstrength, durability, she shot energy from her hands." Warren paused when he saw the scared way in which she was looking at her hands, and these were shaking as well.

"And?" she asked.

"and the ability to fly" he ended with a smile.

"Great" she thanked him acidly.

"But I've already seen you fly! You're a natural!" Warren persisted

"Ah'm afraid of heights, Warren" she replied. He looked down for a second, he had imagined the two of them flying together.

"I'm sorry" he said flatly.

"Don't be, I should thank you, you looked into her for me" she said. "Really, you just saved me a lot of time" she said, then turned towards Remy.

"Where did Remy go?" she asked. She looked down at his untouched plate and grabbed a paper napkin with something written on it.

Chère, I must leave you here.

You know where I am headed if you wish to follow,

but I ask you not to.

You are in good hands.

"Typical Swamp Rat" she said and ripped the note in half. She looked at Warren. "He left"

"Oh" he said. "When will he be back?" he asked.

"He won't be" she bit back. "Sorry" she realized she was taking her anger out on the wrong guy.

"So, why are you afraid of heights? There's always a reason behind a phobia" he asked.

"What are you afraid of that makes you the expert?" she asked him, with a forced laugh.

"Doctors, they are always intimidated by me, and look at me as a freak. And since most of them see my wings as a disease, a fixable condition, I grew to hate them" he said. "My father had cosmetic surgery done to me twice, they just grew back." He explained.

"Oh," she listened. "I'm afraid of heights because of what Magneto did to me on Liberty Island" she explained. "He kept lifting me in the air, and no matter how much I screamed, how much I…" she stopped to wipe tears forming in her eyes. "He kept going up, and all I could see was the stupid Freedom Lady smiling at me. I was so afraid. Also, when I fly, I am using his powers, his psyche, to do so, it brings the memory even more freshly into my head" she replied with a shudder.

"Oh" Warren stayed inarticulate for a few minutes.

"So, I guess we all have a reason for being scared" she said.

"Yeah" Warren said as he placed a few dollars to cover the bill plus tip and stood to leave. He never took his coat off. "Let's go" he asked.

Marie looked for a few seconds to Remy's empty seat. You're in good hands.

"I'm alone" he said to the phone.

"Don't bother coming, I did the job myself, a bit badly, but père with have to deal with it" he said. "What are you gonna say to him?"

"Je ne sais pas" he replied. (I don't know) "Je saurai a retourner" (I will know when I return)

"Bien" Henri said to him.

"Au revoir, frère" Remy said to him and hung up. He looked back towards the restaurant from the alley he had found. Marie looked disappointed, but Warren was trying to keep her mind away from all of it.

He studied her for a while. Then shook his head.

"Non, just because she is a mutant like me does not mean she'll like me" he said. "Comment moi faire concurrence à il?" (How can I compete against him) He spoke to himself and then lit a cigarette. He went in the other direction, assured that he would not run into them again.

Colossus knew that she had gone to San Francisco, but that was it. He had no idea where to look. He took a plane to San Francisco International Airport. Once there, with just a small backpack he had taken with him, he had no idea what to do.

He walked quickly left the airport, a few cabs offered their services. And as it got darker, some women as well. He did not bother no answer any of them, and they probably mistook his stoic stance for incomprehension.

He walked and walked, with no idea in particular of going anywhere, he had thought that maybe, just maybe, he'd feel a part of Rogue calling for him.

He did a lot of thinking. He thought about Ilyana, back home and missing him. He also missed her, and his parents as well. He also thought about the X-men. He is an X-men, and he wore the title proudly. However, he did have his issues. He considered himself different, after all, except for Logan, they were all americans, they did not understand what it meant to have a home to go to , a family that he has to respond to and that depends on him too. He did not tell anyone at the mansion how exactly he helped his family, and he did not want them to find out. But, when Rogue found out. He felt compelled to tell her, and most all that he had kept secret for such a long time. He knew that he could count on her always, she is reliable like that. Maybe its not love, but this friendship that he had developed with her was just as important to him as his relationship to his family. That, and he cared. He walked around thinking, mulling things over, and wishing finding her was easier. She did not have a phone address, and she had told hiim not to bother looking for her, that this decision was important for her. But he followed, if only because he knows that nobody understands them like they understand each other. He also wanted to share to her one last secret before letting her go. Knowing that her opinion of him might change forever, but it needed to be done.

"Dazavtra, Rogue" he spoke to the night. (See you tomorrow)

At eleven, he grew tired and checked into the first hotel he found. He checked into the Hotel Rex and got a single bed, single bath room. He asked for cable. He made sure to have a good view, too.

Once in his bedroom he looked out the window, it was quite late, but he was sure that he would find her tomorrow. He was not tired, so he sat, looking at the blurry sky and people walking up and down the streets.

He sat in a chair, and found a small bottle of vodka in the mini fridge. It was not exactly good, but enough to make him relax a bit.

He then saw something extraordinary, well, just as extraordinary as it can get when you are a mutant.

An angel, hovering right in front of his eyes, well, a bit up, near the skyscraper of the next building, which looked a lot like a hotel too. But then he saw that the Angel was being followed by another flying figure in a green cloak without the massive wings he had.

The winged figure was beckoning to the other, certain of his flying abilities, the other not so much.

"Could those be mutants?" he asked himself and went inside. He switched on the TV to find local news, instantly, footage of himself and the other X-men from a few days ago hit the screen. He switched it.

"Sightings of an Angel have been heard all afternoon" An anchorman said on the next channel. "All though its origin is unknown, these sighting that have been happening for a few years in San Francisco, have been even more numerous in these past weeks. This has allowed for questions to come out. Is it a mutant or a real angel?" the anchorman left it at that. Same question Piotr was asking himself. "More on this story tomorrow" He changed the channel to cartoons and fell asleep quickly.

"Wow" she breathed.

"Yeah, I knew you could do it" he replied. She passed her hands through her hair to undo the mess of it.

"Thanks, Warren" she said to him.

"I had no idea I'd be a good teacher" he laughed.

"Hey, I thought you said I was a natural flying" she replied.

"You are" he said. "But you were too scared."

"I flew with Carol, not with Magneto, and that makes a world of a difference" she decided to explain.

"Yeah, I guess that is it in part" he agreed. Carol had been talking, but he thought it unwise to tell her so. She smiled. She then jumped with both knees towards the sky and flew a few feet in the air. Her bangs fell out of her bun when she flipped right in the air.

"Careful" he cautioned. She smiled.

"I used to do gym, as a kid, you know, those skinny girls that seem to defy gravity with all their jumps" she talked as she hovered on her back. Warren reached up her and watched her. After taking her flying, and then at sundown letting her try to fly, she was happy. He did have to catch her several times, but she made it. Now she did it fearlessly, as well as a bit carelessly,

"Let's call it a night" he asked as he took elevated himself, flapping his wings softly to stay besides her. "You can't sleep in the sky" he pointed out, and he couldn't stay hovering like she does, he has to keep moving his wings to keep airborne. She sat up and fell down, her coat flowing around her like a cape, making it look like a very Storm like entrance.

"Oh! My reservation was for one night only, she said" he smiled.

"Relax, there's a reason I chose this roof to fall on" he told her suspiciously.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's my fathers" he told her. He dialed a combination into a lock to enter the building and it clicked open.

"And I imagine he's gonna be very happy about you crashing here?" she asked him.

"He thinks I am in Washington State" he replied boringly.

"Besides," he said as he put his coat back on. "I have enough cash on me" he replied.

"I'm gonna have to insist we ask for two rooms, then" she said.

"Nonsense" he said, mainly because he was still worried about leaving her alone.

"But, I can pay my own room, really!" she insisted.

"Not here you can't" he said, as they took the elevator to the first floor and the front desk.

"The Orchard Hotel?" Marie asked, impressed.

"Well," he said, unsure if that reaction was good or bad.

"Awesome," she continued as she walked towards the front desk and asked for a room with two beds. He smiled to the lady behind the desk and she instantly beamed back.

"Mr. Worthington! So nice to see you!" she exclaimed. He pulled Marie over to him and answered her.

"A room, one of the good ones, with two beds" he asked. Marie thanked him silently for the request. She raised her eyebrows, So he is available… and so gorgeous too.

"Thank you, sugah" Marie said to him. He paid cash and they left, leaving the woman unsure of their relationship.

"What's so funny?" he asked her, seeing her goofy entertained face.

"Well, seems to me that you don't even have to try to be charming" she assured him.

"What?" he asked.

"She was unsure whether you are single or not" she laughed.

"Oh, well," he turned red at that. "I guess I am single?" he asked.

"Ah'm sorry, I did not quite mean it like that. I mean, it's not like I took the cure to be able to…" and she stopped her line of thought and shut up. "Ah shouldn't have opened mah big mouth!" she excused herself.

"No, don't worry about it" he said. "Do you want room service food? Because I can go fly over to get more of that Italian stuff you liked…" he offered.

"Nah, room service sounds good, plus I am sure that here it's better than most room service" she said. He agreed and got the menu from a desk between the two beds…

"There's pasta, hamburgers, ribs, salads, pork chops…" he started to read off.

"Whatever you feel like eating" she offered, then went into the bathroom and locker herself in.

"Okay, ribs it is" he answered to himself. He flipped the TV on, and switched it to sports, not wanting to see any news about the cure, mutants or his father. Watching european soccer was far away enough for him to not think about that.

Hmm... well, i hope that you guys enjoyed that. Did some research too, see if you can find out the important research points too. All in all, i hope you enjoyed my spur of inspiration and wrote a whole chapter.

I want to clear something up, because you guys might start thinking that I am making everyone infatuated with Rogue. First off, Colossus sees her as nothing more than a friend, if I misled you into thinking they are friends with benefits... well, i think i can give you the benefit of the doubt, right? Warren is overwhelmed to have a friend and a mutant he can share his experiences with, all though i said that he had been with the X-men the experience was when he was very young, and actually had to leave because of his father, he used to be classmates with Storm, Scott and Jean, but he was forced to leave. Bobby is still thinking himself the boyfriend, and is acting as such, but he is only fooling himself, because when we are not watching him and Kitty are flirting. As you can see, John and Rogue did get to have a physical relationship... that chapter completely changed my rating, but not anymore, and he is clearly over that, his jealousy over Remy is probably freeze induced. That's as good an explanation i can have for them.

Anyways, please review.


	14. Agreeing or Against

Guess what? I had a test today, so, off course, inspiration struck yesterday when i should have been studying. Well, i think i did okay. So. Here goes. Be nice to plot.

Disclaimer: When I have an original character, it will have its own story. For the time being, i just work with these creations.

* * *

Ch14

She took a deep breath and lowered her self into the tub. She slowly allowed her lungs to empty as much as she could. Her senses started dimming. But she relished in it, a few seconds without voices, without having to keep her guard up.

The water is hot, and the psyches are all silent as her need for oxygen increases. She tries to hold it in as much as she can. _Ten, nine, eight… she needs it now… seven, six, five… a bit more…._

"Ah" she gasped for air as soon as she made it out. She tries to keep the thoughts at bay. She heard a frantic knock.

"Yes?" she spoke loudly for it to carry around the bathroom and through the door. On the other side, Warren sighed in relief. _She's okay_.

"Are you okay?" he asked first. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I just couldn't hear you before" she said.

"Look, the food just arrived, but take your time if you need to" he explained. He sighed, but let it go.

Rogue got out of the tub and dried off. She wrapped her hair in a towel and dressed, with a short sleeved shirt that she had not worn in ages. Combined with sweatpants and stayed barefoot. For once, unafraid.

"Hey" Warren said as she came out, with a rib in his hand. He offered her some and she sat down besides him.

"Looks delicious" she said as she dug in as well. They both ate, very tired after a whole afternoon flying.

"I never would have guessed that stripping myself on my abilities would make me further develop the ones that had been repressed." She said in between bites. He gave her a quizzical look.

"I mean… I have been hindered by my skin for so long… and now I am actually doing things that I enjoy with these other people's powers" she said.

"You are not concerned about the voices?" he asked her.

"They are becoming bearable, the more I use their powers, the more I realize what I need and don't need to do to keep control" she said.

"Good, you're making progress" he said, with a smile. She smiled too.

"Thank you, Warren" she said. He blushed, but tried to hide it. "I mean it"

"You don't have to be so nice" he said. She laughed at that.

"Come on, you're one of the few people that have been nice to me in a long time, it's the least I can do" she replied.

"What do you meant? I thought you had friends at Xavier's" he said,

"Well… I guess you could call them that… if you squint your eyes and twist the story a bit" she laughed, forcing it out a bit.

"But, none of them? I mean, I don't know a lot of them, when I left it was only Hank, Ororo, Scott and Jean" he replied.

"Well, I only met Dr. McCoy the day before I left. He left the institute, too. Didn't you know? He became the secretary of mutant affairs." She said. "Jean… well, she sees me as a kid, and quite frankly, the part that she cannot control her telepathy freaks me out a bit." She said.

"And Scott?" he dared to ask. She snorted.

"He… he never liked me" she said.

"What?" he asked. "That is quite unlike Scott" he could not quite believe it.

"Well, in between Wolverine's thought of him and my little interest in dealing with him, we never talked more than needed." She said, shrugging as she said it.

"Oh" he said. "And did he ever end up with Jean?" he asked. "I mean, I was young, but I remember that there definitely was a spark between them"

"Oh, Mr. Summers fancied her to be her girl, but ever since Logan showed up, the came to be in disagreement over her. And I think she enjoyed too much watching them argue about her"

"Hmm, that so?" he said. She nodded. "Well, if she knows what they are both thinking, I guess there is no better way to have fun" he said.

"Ha, I think it's sick to lead them both on" she replied.

"So, you would never do anything of the sort?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No, not consciously." She said. "I make up my mind, and chose." She said, thinking of Bobby and John, feeling a bit hypocritical.

"So… you've never had two guys interested at the same time?" he asked, trying to go into the whole Remy idea that was swirling around his head.

"Well, once, but I cho…" she stopped herself. _Oh! He's not talking about me, he's talking about him!_

"Marie?" he asked uneasily.

"Warren, I don't like Remy. And, right now, I feel that you are a great friend" she changed her tactic. She was glad she stopped herself before divulging too much about her and John.

"I think you're a great friend too" he said. She smiled. They ate in silence, agreeing on this.

"Okay, I'm full" she said pushing her plate back.

"I'm gonna take a shower now" he said, pushing his plate back as well.

"Okay" she said, and was quickly flipping channels. Warren turned. She watched her wings flutter as he went towards the bathroom.

* * *

"S'il vous plait!" he exclaimed.

"Non, I've never accepted a slip up, and you will not be the first" Jean-Luc told his son. Henri looked between his stepbrother and father.

"The job is done, the people are happy, and I got it" he said.

"Père," Remy interrupted to his brother. "It be Remy's fault. If I had not stayed behind. Henri and Remy be a team, and I failed that." He said to his father.

"And just what exactly kept you, were you busy de-creating your latest embryo?" Jean-Luc laughed at his own joke. Henri shook his head. Remy pursed his lips, knowing how predictable he had become for his father, but also how wrong he is, just this once.

"Non" he said.

"What then?" he asked.

"Nothing close to you having a grandchild" he replied angrily.

"You're not turning towards the dark side, are you?" Jean-Luc asked him, a bit disgusted.

"Quoi?" Remy asked confused. Henri laughed.

"He's question is if you were with a guy" Henri explained, and kept laughing. Jean-Luc was asking seriously and did not appreciate his other son laughing in his face.

"I take it you know what your frère was up to, Henri?" he asked. this sobered Henri up all right. He looked between Remy and his father. Unsure, of whom he needed to satisfy.

"I met another mutant, on the train. I stayed with her" he said. Jean-Luc groaned.

"You said that there was no possible grandchildren involved"

"Oui, cuz I was not doing anything of the sort" he explained, unwillingly.

"That's a first" he said. Remy decided against explained further._ Well, if it's a mutant he would most probably be even more willing to be together, non?_ Jean-Luc thought to himself.

"Fine, out of my sight, the two of you" he said, and dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

"Merci, Henri" Remy thanked his brother for his silence.

"You owe me, at least two" Henri said. "Now, I have to go see Cecile" he said, winked and then left. Remy dug his hands into his pockets, producing a deck of cards. He wondered around the house, with no current assignment, he felt at ease. As the cards slipped his fingers, he remembered playing Rogue for questions. He liked how sassy she was, and she would never take her eyes off of his. She actually made him feel… worthy. Like he mattered. He shook his head to rid himself of the ideas she planted about him, about them.

"What cha doing all by your lonesome, Rems?" a voice asked him. He looked up, he was walking near the kitchen, and Tante Mattie was looking towards him. He smiled at his aunt, and walked towards her.

"Anything good in the kitchen?" he asked as he went inside, Tante in front of him.

"Now, don't get any ideas" she said as he looked for food. "Don't ruin dinner for yourself" she scorned.

"Oui, Tante" he said, escaping the kitchen with his pockets full of her cinnamon cookies and nougat biscotti.

"Gimme here, Remy" she asked knowingly. He pretended to be caught and handed over two cookies. He left quickly afterwards, before she took away all his cookies.

* * *

Warren exited the bathroom to find Rogue asleep. The clicker was in her hand, her hand fallen at her side. She was under the covers, but these were barely past her legs. He reached over and covered her. He moved to the other bed and paused to click the television off.

He wondered how much the institute had changed, and just how much he missed it. Maybe it is the right time to go back.

* * *

He pushed her away. He was not that drunk. He looked at her through glassy eyes.

"How did you find me?" he asked. She smiled, her typical knowing smile.

"You did not exactly hide" she retaliated.

"Whatever, just leave me alone" he said, and made to leave. She held him back. He twitched and produced his lighter. She looked at it.

"You think that just because I am a homo sapien I'll be scared of that?" she asked.

"You should be" he replied.

"You are wrong, Pyro" she said. "My powers may have been gone, but my female intuition is still intact. I'm looking up everybody, I'm not the only who was forced into this" she said, guesturing around herself, her clothes self, Pyro noted.

"Look, I need some time alone. I don't think I want to go back to that" he said.

"And, what? Go back to the X-men?" she said with a sneer. He shook his head.

"No, simply be alone" he replied.

"But, the ones that are still with powers need a leader, someone to lead them where Magneto, Callisto and I cannot." She said.

"Callisto? She's depowered?" Pyro asked.

"No, she's dead. We lost one of the better ones to the X-men" she said with disgust. He closed his eyes, he did remember when Magneto allowed her to target Storm.

"Storm?" he asked. She nodded, he chuckled. "Didn't know she had it in her"

"You'd be surprised, not only of her" she said.

"Don't worry, I have been surprised enough to last me a lifetime" he said with contempt. He took a swig of his rum.

"Let me guess, by the professors death?" he shook his head. "By the Iceman beating you?" she said. He shot her a disgusted glance. She raised her hands to her sides, backing off, showing off her perfectly manicured nails.

"Don't pry" he asked of her, and left. She followed, but a small flame by the entrance of the lounge disco that he had been in was enough for her to back off.

"Don't tell me its that you lost Magneto" she yelled into the night.

"That did surprise me, but not enough" he said. He decided he needed to get farther than just the city. Maybe going north would be okay. _This state sucks anyway, _he thought to himself. Suddenly the bus station did not seem like a bad place to go to. But he would find a hotel for the night. He walked around.

He checked every so often to make sure that Mystique was not following him. But she did not seem to. Or if she was, he had efficiently lost her.

The night is dark, but the streets are full. He has no trouble asking directions for a nearby fancy hotel.

"Hmm… Hotel Rex or Orchard Hotel?" he considered out loud as he looked between the two. "Right, too floral" he said as he walked towards the Hotel Rex.

Not soon enough, he slumped on a bed and was quickly asleep.

* * *

AN: Yes, in the comics Henri's girl is called Merci. But, really, a girl named Thanks?

Please review!

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	15. Always Around

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine. I don't make any profit off of this, otherwise i would not be a med student.

Sorry for the long wait, but i have an especially long chapter just for this.

* * *

**Ch 15**

* * *

"Rogue, I am not going to do something you do not want me to do" he said, looking deeply into her eyes. She grabbed his hand, but then nodded slowly. He kissed the crevice beneath her sternum, between her ribs, clad only in a silk nightgown. She sighed deeply in response. He trailed kisses south from there. She was filled with anticipation and desire at the same time.

His covered arms caressed her bare arms and his bare face was buried deep in her covered belly and torso. He kissed through the silk, wetting it. She felt electricity make her feel alive. Better than she had ever felt.

"Please…" she whimpered. He kept going south. Her negligee resembled more a bathing suit now from all the saliva on it. But she did not mind. Because he was taking her on an express way to heaven. He then continued with search southwards, knowing that her venomous skin was tempting him even more than usual. He took a peek at her swollen sex, already wet and waiting for him, before covering it with her long negligee and proceeding to kiss and suck on her bundle of nerves through the silk…

"JOHN!" she knew not to scream, but the intensity of her hushed excitement was not lost. He had reached her hidden spot, and he could not help the smirk that rested on his mouth when her juices spilled in between them.

* * *

"Remy, I know you don't love me." She said, a laugh hiding underneath the surface.

"Bella, I don't have any expectations of you either" he replied, shuffling cards in the hand behind his back.

"Jack of Spades" Bella said. Remy stopped his shuffling. He turned the last card in his hand and it was indeed the one she said.

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Pourquoi les lunettes de soleil tout le temp? Tout le jour e tout le nuit?? " she asked. He grinned. (Why the sunglasses all the time? All day? All night?)

"Bella, une question, et toi le gaspille dans un question qui moi j'ai déjà rèpondu à? " he said back, he removed the strands of hair that fell on his face. (one question and you waste it on a question i have already answered?)

"Je sais qui toi response n'est pas le vrai" was all she said. (i know that your answer is not the truth)

"You don't need to know everything, Bella" he said, and stood up to leave.

"When we marry, there will be no secret between us!!" she screamed back at him.

"You're wrong. You are going to be keeping even more secrets from me. More than right now, don't think I do not know" he said simply. Belladonna Bordeaux paled, but said nothing as he left. He saw the grey wall of the empty building in front of her loft. Then he disappeared into the night.

* * *

She was feeling without her gloves, and it felt wonderful. She already knew that he is very hairy. She had touched him a few times back, but it never felt like this.

"Marie, kid, were you doing this for me?" he asked. She looked deeply into his blue eyes. They were boring deeply into her chocolate ones. She shook her head, not knowing exactly what that meant.

* * *

"It will feel a little jarry" the doctor specified to her. She flicked the syringe and then went towards her. She was not scard, she thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world: a cure.

"Nurse, please" she turned. A man came close to hold her still. She smirked at the thought of it. But did nothing.

"Ready?" the doctor said again.

"Yes, more than ever" she replied. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the syringe poke her arm.

"The pain shall be only momentary" But she felt the yellow liquid as it flowed through her entire body. She through her head back, and felt a few strands of blonde hair fall into her face as her bun came undone.

But she also felt different. She was not sure if it was going to work, she knew that her genes had been altered by the aliens, and that she did not exactly know. But she could hope.

"All done" she opened her eyes, then blow on the strands of hair on her face. Dr. Rao, she read the name tag, removed the hair she was unable too. "Do you want to try to use your powers?" she asked. She nodded slowly.

"Yes, I want to make sure it worked." She replied.

"We gave you the strongest dose we could, any more and it would have been lethal for you" Dr. Rao replied. She nodded, and bit her lip. She stood up from the medical bed she was laying in. She looked around the room. She thought she should start with the basic first.

She jumped up in the air, only to fall down again. That proved two things: her flight was gone, and judging by the state of the floor she fell on, her super strength too, there were not foot prints left behind. She concentrated on her hands: they felt warm, but nothing more than that.

"OH!" she felt her eyes get warm as tears started streaming down her face. "I'm really cured" she said, she wiped her tears away quickly. "This is real" she said.

"Off course it is, Ms. Danvers" Dr. Rao replied with a knowing smile.

* * *

Concentrate, focus, now is not the time for a pretty face to be distracting. He told himself as he took all the emotions away from her. Replacing it with tranquility and ease. He saw her face start to relax, that was a good sign.

That's when he felt everything coming rushing back, through his esophagus.

* * *

Rogue woke up and headed straight for the bathroom. Vomit at the back of her throat. She barely reached the toilet.

"Fucking dreams" she said in between retching. She pushed her hair back, she was going to have to clean it thoroughly after this.

She only had a clear idea of two dreams: Carol and Remy.

"Gawd" she said. She gagged again, but this time nothing went in the wrong direction back into her mouth. Thankfully.

"Marie, are you all right?" she heard behind her.

"Just give me a sec, Warren" she requested.

"Do you need anything?" he asked from the doorway. She shook her head but then changed her mind.

"Can you please get me some water from the mini fridge?" she pleaded to him. He nodded and turned to go inside.

She sat up and pressed herself against the wall. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and fuck finger.

"Here you go, Marie" he said, his hand was softly placing the bottle in her grasp.

"Thanks" she managed to say hoarsely before chugging down the bottle.

"No problem. Anything else?" he asked.

"I feel disgusting, I'm gonna wash my teeth and then take a shower" she informed him.

"I'll bring your stuff" he offered and was back in a minute.

"Thank you, Warren"

"I'm going to go for a small flight. You need your space" he said wisely and took off into the morning.

She got herself up from the ground. She shut the bathroom door and then stripped. She found her toothbrush, she was not satisfied about her breath until six washes afterwards, and two mouthwashes. She then washed her face.

A cold, but long shower helped her a lot. From her half asleep state and from her feeling dirty.

* * *

He looked out the window, he saw the same angel from last night fly right in front of him. He left alone this time. He wanted to follow it. He knew how.

It was bound to come back. He picked up everything from his room and went up to the roof. He did not need tin form for this.

He was just glad that the streets in San Frascisco were not wide. He took a few steps to prepare and then vaulted himself onto the hotel in front.

"That was easy" he said to himself.

He looked around. He settled and ate the apple he took from the mini fridge.

"There it is" as he saw the wings come back He followed the wings. He did not expect him to settle right in front of him, but he did. He stepped forward.

"Hello" he said.

"Hello?" Warren asked. The big, muscular man in front of him was a bit intimidating.

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to scare you. My name is Piotr Rasputin, and I could not help seeing you fly" he said.

"Er, yeah, about that…" Quick plan, fly away or run away?

"Don't be scared, I'm a mutant too" he said.

"Um, okay" he said.

"I just need some help finding someone" he asked.

"I don't know many mutants" he replied evasively.

"Oh," he said, his face fell.

"But it was a pleasure to meet you" he said, a bit sarcastically. He checked his watch, he had left Marie roughly an hour ago, and he wanted to make sure she was okay.

"Sure," Piotr said. But just then Warren's phone started to vibrate.

"Hello?"

"Warren? Where are you?" a weak voice asked on the other side.

"I'm on the roof, Marie, I'm coming down" he said.

"Oh, okay, I just… I didn't know were you went and I panicked" she said.

"Give me two minutes" he asked, and hung up. He looked back at Piotr

"Look, man, I am not going to fight you. I wish I would help you."

"My friend… she was looking for a cure… I am afraid that without her powers anything could happen" he said.

"What's her name?" Warren asked out of courtesy.

"Rogue" Colossus told him.

"Rogue?" Warren asked.

"Yes" he replied.

"Well, she'll like to see a friendly face" he said as he typed into the small number keyboard of the roof access.

"What?" he asked.

"You sure know how to look for people" Warren replied with a smirk.

"I'm not a tracker" he replied.

"No? Offensive powers, then?" Warren asked.

"Something of the sort" he said as he fisted his left hand and armored up.

* * *

He finally kicked his sheets aside, bored of sleeping in. It should be around twelve. He got up from the hotel bed. He took out a phone book from a drawer in the hotel. Maybe he could get an idea of where to go from here now.

He started flicking through pages, nothing really catching his attention. But then he saw the back cover. A world map. Now that was interesting.

Why stay in United Fucking States? He thought to himself.

He twirled his fingers on the map, and followed to see where his fuck finger landed. The center finger on his hand indicated exactly where South America and North America met: Panama.

"Well, Panama it is" he said.

He left the room and headed to the airport.

* * *

Rogue flicked channels as she waited for the pancakes she had ordered through room service. She had called Warren afterwards, unsure of why he had left for so long. She felt refreshed, all the memories at the back of her head again.

She found another recount of the battle at Alcatraz. Some guy zoomed in too much, no idea how much. But inside the small squares that composed the image, a few red ones and a few pink ones indicated the bodies of Jean and Logan, as he killed her and then carried her away. She felt a knot in the her throat at seeing that. It was incredible.

She heard the door click and turned her head to see Warren.

"Marie?" Warren asked as he came in, followed by someone else.

Rogue stood up and ran to him.

* * *

_AN: I know, the longest wait yet, but i hope you enjoyed it. I promise to update asap, and the more reviews i get the more i will want to keep posting. And since i am updating most of my stories, the one with the most reviews is probably going to get the next chapter the fastest. I have four fandoms to rock, so if you want, please review. _


	16. Accidentally Awed

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine. I don't make any profit off of this, otherwise i would not be a med student.

Sorry for the long wait, but i have an especially long chapter just for this.

Thanks for your reviews: RogueNya, Princesakarlita411 and Laceylou76. You guys rock.

* * *

**Ch 16

* * *

**

"Pete!" she said as she threw herself on him. He hugged her back, watching his strength.

"Rogue" he said, happy that he had found her. He twirled her once in his embrace. He then settled her back on the ground.

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, Rogue" he said. He looked back at Warren. "You look happy"

"Ah took the cure!" she replied excitedly. He grabbed her bare hand.

"It's so soft" he said. She pinched a soft cheek.

"That's not so cold either" she replied.

"It really worked" he said in awe. "It is real"

"We don't know about that…" she said.

"What?" Pete asked, deflated.

"I can still hear the voices inside my head." She said, wringing her hands and knuckles. Her common nervous give away. "It's actually worse"

"Rogue…" he said, trailing off, not sure what to say.

"I am going to make a new life, I can learn to control it." she said to him.

"Good, I just wanted to know you are okay" he confessed and hugged her again.

"I am." She said.

"Do you need help with anything?" he asked. She shook her head.

"How are things at school?" she asked.

"Okay… I guess. Ms. Monroe and Logan are dealing with all the school needs, requirement, managing everything. Kitty, Bobby and I are taking teaching positions this fall. Everybody is fine."

"And is Bobby happy?" she asked with a bit of venom in her voice.

"No. He is completely losing it because you have not come back. He won't even listen to Kitty." He said.

"And are they…

"No, they are not getting along exactly well without you." He said with a snort. She laughed at that.

"Aw, does she only work as the second woman?" Marie spat sarcastically.

"Think so" Piotr contributed. "Is the mini fridge full?" he asked. She nodded. He crouched by the mini fridge and found something good: Gzhelka Vodka

"Go right ahead" Rogue said. They had sneaked vodka and tequila more than twice together into the mansion. They even made out a few times under the influence.

He took out the mini bottle, but it was gone in two sips.

"Refreshing?" she guessed. He only nodded, trying to get the last drops to fall on his mouth. Seeing him drinking made her think of their kisses, which made her remember of John even more so. She hid her face behind her hand upon the realization.

"What's Rogue?" he asked as he sat beside her again.

"I had promised myself I was going to forget this completely, but I just did…

"What is it?" he prompted

"I ran into John" she confessed.

"Before the battle? Because Bobby…"

"I know what he did. No, he's alive. I just don't know where" she replied. Her eyes were warm, but no tears would fall for him. "We… Remy and I found him, unconscious in an alley the day after Alcaltraz, I managed to get him to respond, but…" she choked on the next words. "He thought I was going to hurt him, got away from me and then… he accused me of attacking him, then I told him about the cure… he left." She said as completely as she could.

"He's an ass, always has been" he replied. Rogue nodded and stood up to pick up her stuff.

"Hate to interrupt," Warren finally participated.

"Yeah?" Rogue asked him.

"I know where I am going now, I changed my mind" he informed her.

John wondered around for just enough for him to catch the red eye to Panama. Or so he thought, he actually had to take two planes to get there. The easiest thing was a connectin by Dallas Forth Worth, he figured he might as well spend the last few grands he had from Magneto, and later make an easy living there, dunno, playing cards or anything that would serve him to keep his barely there money to survive.

His time in Dallas was a breeze, even considering the three hour wait. He got on the red eye to Panama, whereas he took the second to last flight from San Francisco to Dallas of the night.

"I can't believe I can't go directly home, I mean, going to Panama for one more day? I want to be home already" the girl talked into her phone, she was walking in front of him down the aisle to sit on his second plane of the day. She could not have been much older nor younger than him. She had trouble with her overhead bag, so he helped her. Besides, he had already gotten the incentive of her stretching as much as her small frame allowed her to, making her blouse ride up to reveal a tan, caramel colored skin. And her nice skirt let him see a beautiful tan and toned legs. She was hot.

"Gracias" she thanked him with a smile and then continued to talk rapid Spanish into her phone. She sat down. He checked his ticket again. He was sitting besides the latin hottie.

He relaxed into his seat and flicked his lighter a few times. He was glad he was able to pass it through security.

"Si, yo se. De fijo! Apenas llegue te llamo de vuelta. Diay, que voy a hacer, una noche más en Panama. Te llamo después? Muchas gracias. Yo tambien te extraño demasiado! Mil besos!" she said into the phone. John was trying to lean back and relax, but her chattering was not exactly helpful.

"Ma'am, I am going to have to ask you to turn off your phone." A stewardness said to her. She nodded and said one more word into the phone. "Tengo que irme, adios" she said and hung up. The stewardess continued on her way.

"Can't believe I took this flight." She said to him with an awkward smile. She seemed to use it as her best form of communication. He smirked back at her.

"Not one for the tropical climate?" he asked.

"Oh no, I live in Costa Rica, but apparently, the flight I had booked was overbooked, and since my first flight got delayed, I did not make the first calling. Some airlines, right?" he decided that this girl liked to talk.

"I decided to go to Panama today. Got out a map, and my finger fell on Panama." He said.

"Starting something new, huh?" she asked with a sneaky smile. He nodded.

"Something of the sort" he replied. Then the flight safety instructions started playing. She listened in attentively as if it were her first flight. He decided to make conversation as soon as it ended.

"Don't travel a lot?" he asked.

"Ha, funny. I do, actually. I study in Seattle, but live in Costa Rica. I travel home for summer and winter break. During summer I usually take a week to see another country, mostly Latin America because it is the only thing I can afford." She blinked deeply and stopped. "I'm sorry, I'm talking too much. What are your plans for Panama?" she asked.

He guessed that Costa Rica was somewhat close to Panama.

"Hmm, no plans right now, I still have a bit of money to spend, from there I'll see what I can do." He replied cryptically. "I don't mind your talking," he replied. Besides, her talking to him was the perfect excuse to look at her. She had large breasts that barely overflowed her frame. And she had dazzling eyes: at first look, they looked Blue, but a second glance made them look green. He studied them for a second deciding on how to describe them best: Ocean blue speckled with honey. That was it. "You have pretty eyes, what do you call that color?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes in response. "Green, I guess" she replied with a smug smile.

"Green fits you" he said. She laughed.

"Um, Thanks, I guess" she said.

"So, you speak Spanish, any important phrases I should know?" he asked.

"Hmm.. I´ll tell you my personal favorite: Más vodka!" she said.

"More vodka?" he guessed. She nodded.

"And very important: Donde esta el cagadero?" she said, pronounciating slowly.

"I lost you there" he replied.

"Where's the bathroom" she translated.

"You gonna skip the basic hello, thank you and goodbye?" he asked.

"Hola, gracias and adios" she said. "I just assumed everyone that wants to go there bothers with those fundamentals" she said.

"I've never known even proper English" he said. "I had german class in high school, though," he said.

"Funky" she said. "I know a few words… Sind Sie über einundzwanzig?" she asked. John smirked.

"Yeah" he said.

"Good" she replied.

"Why?" he asked. She bit her lip and leaned towards him.

"Nothing, just one of the few phrases I know" she said.

"How come?"

"Because I spent a week a few summers ago in Germany with my cousins who lives there, and I learned to say that because I did not want to sleep with someone younger than me" she replied.

"Good enough reason, I guess" he said.

"Anything to drink over here?" the stewardness asked. John looked in the other direction, startled by the voice.

"Do you have rum? Or anything?" he asked. The stewardess rolled her eyes.

"I have whisky, rum and vodka." She said.

"Whisky, please" he asked. She looked at the other girl.

"Nothing, thank you very much" she said with a win-win smile.

"So, I did not catch your name" he said.

"Daria Paiva Herra" she lied to him.

"That's a mouthful, what do your friends call you?" he asked.

"Daria or Paiva, I like both my names." She replied with a shrug and a playful nip at her own lips.

"Paiva, then. Daria reminds me too much of an old and lousy MTV cartoon" he said.

"Yeah, I know" she replied. He unbottled the whisky and drank a big mouthful, completely ignoring the cup filled with ice in front of him. He noticed the tiny bottle was also plastic.

"Where do you study?" he asked.

"Um, University of Washington" she said again.

"Must be fun" he replied. "I never went past high school." He said.

"How come?" she asked.

"Better things to do" he said.

"Right" she said. "And what's your name?"

"John Allerdyce, nice to meet ya" he said. The name ringed a bell, but she let it slip.

"Nice to meet you too, Johnny" she replied.

"Ugh, no, not Johnny" he asked.

"Okay," she said. "What do your friends call you then?" she asked.

"Well, John" he lied.

"Right. Makes sense" but she noticed his lie.

"Yeah, just that. Are you spending one day in Panama, then?" he asked. She nodded absently, "Maybe you can help me as I settle in." he asked

"Um, dunno, I have the first flight tomorrow…" she said.

"Oh, that's okay then" John said, feeling stupid.

"But, I can recommend you a hotel and hook you up with a friend of mine that lives there" she offered. He considered and then nodded. "Fair enough," she said,

"So, how long is this flight?" he asked.

"Too long" she replied.

"About three hours?"

"Yeah, around that, I guess" she replied. "I usually make a Dallas to San Jose connection" she shrugged.

"Right, Costa Rica not Panama" he said.

"Do you smoke?" she suddenly asked, he noticed he was flicking his lighter every so often during the conversation.

"Yeah, sometimes" he granted.

"Panama is not the place for you" she said.

"How come?" he asked, curious.

"Smoking is banned"

"Well, there are not many places you can smoke usually anyways."

"No, the country has smoking banned. Especially in public places" she told him. He grimaced.

"Ha, ha" he said, unable to get past the idea. He looked at his lighter yearningly.

"Sucks, huh?" she asked.

"Do you smoke?" he asked

"No, never have and never will be" she replied.

"You shouldn't say never" he replied with a smirk.

"Aw, so cute. I am firm about what I will not do with my life" she said to him.

"So, would you say you would never have sex with a stranger, for example?" he asked.

"No," she said, her eyes growing a bit wider, the light shone on them brilliantly.

"Why so?" he asked, curious.

"Because I was wondering if you'd like to make this flight worth my while" she asked, whispering softly in his ear as her hand settled near his groin.

"I can make it worth your while a few times, if you stay with me until you catch your flight tomorrow" he replied.

"Sounds tempting" she said, and smiled mischeviously. Oh yeah, she used her mouth to communicate.

"Ladies first" he said, he stood up and she passed besides him as close as she could before walking to the bathroom. He noticed her very tall heels, she was shorter than Kitty, but had much better proportions. He sat back down again, counted to twenty and then set out after her.

He quickly decided that latin women are much better than a girl he cannot touch.

"I'm going back to Xavier's" Warren said. Marie's eyes twinkled in delight.

"But, what will you do about school?" she asked.

"I don't care, I don't fit in there anyways," he said.

"You can come with me" Peter offered.

"Sounds good" he said.

"I can't go there" Rogue said. "I want something different, I always wanted to go to Canada" she said.

"This is your chance to be you, Rogue," Pete said. "If you need anything, you know where to reach us" She nodded.

"Thank you so much, Pete" she said. Hugging him. "And you too, Warren, you have given me so much courage" she said.

"Ma— Rogue, about this morning…" he started off, unsure of what this other guy would say.

"Just some memories, nothing I can't deal with" she brushed him off. "Xavier's is just no longer the place for me."

"I understand, Rogue" Pete said. Warren nodded too.

"Take your time" Warren said too.

"Thanks guys," she said to them. "I have to leave" she said, and hugged each one last time before departing.

* * *

Thank you for reading, If you leave a review that will give me an inc entive to want to finish the next chapter quickly!!


	17. Appropiately Armed

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. I make no money with this,

Thanks for reviewing, RogueNya and Laceylou76. You guys rock.

* * *

Ch 17

* * *

He felt someone following him. It could only be one of two people. He turned, knowing that either would be too fast for him to see. But he did catch a glimpse of something shiny being reflected. He did not move for one full minute. The follower did not peek either.

"Remy knows you're there, Julien" he said to mouth of the alley on the street he was on.

"Bravo," he smirked as he emerged from the shadows. Remy decided to keep the reunion short, and started to walk away. "You sure you want to walk away from your future brother in law?" he said.

"Non, I want to walk away from you" he replied.

"I just might have to call Bella and tell her that you are being difficult" he taunted

"Remy will tell her you were following me, let's she who gets in trouble after that" he retaliated.

"Was I?" Julien asked.

"Oui, for the past seize blocks, so let's skip the call and let me leave" he said and turned again. That was exactly the moment Julien needed, he took out his gun and shot.

* * *

"Wow." she said, leaning into him, her breasts were moving up and down as she took deep breathes to sooth her accelerated heartbeats in the small enclosed space they were in.

"You can say that again" he sighed, too.

"Y mae" she said. He laughed at the expression, not caring at all what it meant.

"What does that mean?" he asks, nipping her earlobe. She squeals,

"Wow" she says with a naughty smile, reaching down between them and grasping him, it was his turn to sigh deeply.

"Oh" he said as she touched a weak spot.

"How does that feel, John?" she whispered erotically in his ear. He could not believe his luck, only feel it.

* * *

Remy ducked just in time, and retaliated with a charged card. The card impacted the bullet as he jumped away, throwing a second card towards Julien.

He realized he should not have done that, and ran away quick. This time Julien did not shoot nor follow him, he was too shocked.

"Merde" Remy spoke to himself as he sprinted down the streets of the restored New Orleans. He found himself in his apartment, pacing. He took out his cell phone and dialed for his brother first.

"Henri" he said into the phone.

"What's up, frère?" he asked.

"Julien shot me" he started off.

"Merde, are you all right?" he questioned concerned.

"Oui, that's not the point. I retaliated" he said.

"Did you shoot the bastard?" he asked.

"Non, I threw two cards at him" he said.

"QUOI? What were you thinking?" he asked.

"Je pensez a ma vie, frère" he replied, unentertained by his response.

"What now?" Henri asked.

"Je ne se pais, vous pensez qui il parler?" he asked back.

"Oui, et rapidement" he replied.

"Merde, what trouble did I get myself into?" he turned in his room again.

"Wait until Père finds out" Henri said with a laugh.

"I have to call him" he said and hung up.

What to do? The wedding is less than a week away, and he still was only thinking of Marie, had bedded seven girls in five days, two together. Bella had called a few times, said something about not seeing the bride.

"Père" he said as soon as he picked up his second cell phone, the line that you only called for emergencies.

"What?" he asked, he sounded pissed that he had decided to use this phone line.

"Julien shot me." He said quickly.

"You alive, he must have missed." He said.

"Ace of spades and Ace of Diamonds" he replied. "He saw"

"You stupid?" he asked.

"Real bullet, no time to dodge" he replied.

"So, anyone hurt? Because I thought this was an emergency?" he said.

"He will tell" he said to him.

"Off course he will, I just hope no one will believe him" he said.

"Let's hope so" Remy said and shut the phone.

* * *

"They must be in there" Piotr told Warren. He then signaled that he was going back to his room. Warren, thinking how good the support was, simply pushed the door.

There were four people inside the room. They all looked tired and desolate. A girl was leaning on a couch, wiping her eyes. She had brown hair, and puffy brown eyes. There was a boy on the second couch, he had his hands across his lap, he looked up to him through icy blue eyes.

A cinnamon colored woman with intense dark eyes was standing by the window with arms crossed across her chest in a weakening moment. A furry blue man looked thoughtful as he stood behind a couch, he was wearing a blue suit that looked surprisingly okay with his fur.

"I'm sorry," he regretted not asking Piotr to come in with him. "I was told this was a safe place for mutants" he addressed the crowd. They all looked at him, neither sure of what to say.

* * *

"Non, Bella" he said for the fifth time.

"But he said…

"Ma belle, Remy has not seen your brother since before he went on his trip" he lied. He thought it was the best approach, considering that it was only the two of them and no one else could corroborate his story, nor Julien's either.

"It just so happens that I believe my brother, Remy LeBeau" she huffed back at him. He ignited a card under the table and deignited it again. This was taking a toll on him.

She sipped her wine glass and stood up.

"Bella," he tried, glad that she had agreed to see him.

"I can't wait to produce an heir to stop this mess" she said and stumbled into her bed, he took that as his cue to leave. He made sure there were no unwanted persons nearby as he let himself out. Two more days, and this nightmare of a wedding would be over. Course, after that he would have to deal with her all the time, that was potentially worse.

He decided it was a good a time as any to go place a few bets.

"Bonne soir," a man he knew too well greeted him as he made his way to the fullest of tables. He also had another thing going for him: he would tell how the opponent felt, very helpful.

"Look whose back… our very own Remy LeBeau" he turned to see Percy standing behind him, looking curiously at his table.

"Bonne soir, Percy" he said to him, starting to grin like a wolf. "Care to join moi?" he offered. Percy did not need telling twice as he sat besides him. Two of the weaker players collected their chips when they realized that the pros had filled their table. The rest felt adventurous enough to take them on. It was their luck.

"Deal" Percy asked the dealer.

"Hundred or fifty blinds?" he asked, looking between Remy and Percy.

"Let's start small, fifty" Percy said. Remy was pleased that Percy was handling this, it would make it easier to take his money like this. He knew for a fact that Percy hated having lost to him, and was looking for a chance to get him back for a long while back.

All Remy knew was that tonight he would get home with his pockets considerably more heavy. Plus, he had a feeling that the drunk one would not notice him taking his money. If he went about it slowly and cautiously, none at the table would be none the wiser.

Everyboydy checked once. Remy checked his cards. Luck was on his side tonight.

When the river came, there were only three left. Remy bet high, leaving only Percy and him on the table.

"You sure you wanna do that, LeBeau?" Percy all but spat at him. Remy nodded softly. Off course he knew what he was doing. This was his sport after all.

The river came out and they both placed their final bets.

"Show of cards, please" the dealer asked. Remy noticed that his name tag read Lou.

Percy turned a jack and ace off suit.

"Pair of jacks for Mr. D'Anillo" he said. Remy turned his.

"Pair of queens and pair of eights for Mr. LeBeau" he said, and shoved the money towards him. He thanked his lady, the Queen of Hearts. Then he thought of Marie.

He picked up all his money and left. No one questioned him.

"Oy, LeBeau" Percy called. "I'll be waiting for that rematch" he said, still puzzled of how easily he had won.

He did not bother with anything until he got home. He figured if she'd ever call him. He had given her his number, but she currently did not have one, only using payphones wherever she found them.

If she wanted to use them.

If she wanted to call him.

He had to stop. He had to stop thinking about her.

* * *

Marie got off the train, she loved the warm feeling that the breeze gave her. She felt her bare legs, bare arms and even a slip of her stomach was exposed. She felt so different.

She smiled at the sun, and thought that maybe she could be happy down south again.

* * *

Thanks for reading and please review!

* * *


	18. Abruptly Anti Alone

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine. I don't make any profit off of this, otherwise i would not be a med student.

Sorry for the long wait, but i have an especially long chapter just for this.

Thanks for your reviews: RogueNya and Laceylou76.

* * *

**Ch 18**

* * *

First things first, she went to a hairdresser and changed her hair color. She dyed her white portion a dark brown, nearly black, to match the rest of her hair. Then she went over a catalogue to add a few lighter highlights to her hair. It looked beautiful. She paid much more than she would have liked to, but still had around two thousand dollars before she got settled.

She wondered around town, gloveless and sporting her new short hair. She decided she had been in the cold for enough time.

Marie even got quite the few cat calls and whistles in her Daisy Dukes… especially considering her very pale skin. She could not wait to get a real tan.

She ambled around town. Eventually she saw an electronics store that had applications, before that she had seen a shoe shop that needed a part time job. She did not fancy having to deal with feet, and right now she needed a good pay to get settled, maybe later she could apply to night school or something.

She started the application: Erin Ravecork. She used one of the three aliases every X-men had for whenever they needed to remain anonymous. However, this was more because of want rather than need.

* * *

He rubbed his eyes. He felt a soft body on top of his, and he meet the wild mane of brown hair that he had met yesterday. He expected to see her eyes of an unidentifiable color, but she was fast asleep. Her pressed breasts against his thorax and her even breathing was enough proof. They must have gone at it at least seven times, not counting the two in the airplane.

Paiva was definitely out of this world in bed. And not only was she a tight little but voluptuous package, she was flexible. He remembered everything. It was amazing how different it was to have sex when entirely sober. He usually had a couple of drinks before choosing a pretty girl from any bar.

He sighed, and then resolved to keep sleeping.

However, his deep breathe woke her. She moved, first snuggling against him, then licking her lips tentatively. How was she able to be so sexy even when not properly awake? She was lying almost completely on top of him, completely naked.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, clear blue orbs gazing back at him. He blinked a few times, as did she. He focused again and saw the beautiful not green and not blue eyes from yesterday. She was looking sleepily at him.

"Hmm… That was great" she said to him.

"You are flexible" he replied, grabbing her hips and pulling her up. She gasped and then laughed.

"And you are another degree of hot" he laughed, because she was unaware of how true that was.

Paiva then looked past him and to the bedside clock.

"Mierda! Look at the time!" she exclaimed. She picked up her clothes thrown in different places of the room. After watching her for a few seconds he closed his eyes to complain of the lost warmth, but he heard the bathroom door shut and the water running in the shower before he managed to turn his thought into a sentence.

"Quick" he semi said to the empty room. He got up as well and picked up his clothes.

Inside the bathroom, Paiva changed into her normal self for a few seconds with the shower running. She felt water drip from her small nipples, nose and elbows. She got her hair wet and used the hotel shampoo in a jiffy.

Even more quicker she was dry and with her clothes on. She held her water tamed hair to drain it, then braided it. She cleaned her face, eyes and mouth again in the lavatory. Hotel issue toothbrush, soap and cleanser. Once dressed in yesterdays clothing, she rechecked herself in the mirror.

She had to concentrate to create the exact same person that the boy on the other side of the door recalled. Eyes were always a difficult thing to change, and it was purely on a whim that she dared to do it in the bathroom just before boarding. She got the right hue, then concentrated on her other body parts. Her ass gained a pant size as her breasts developed a whole new cup. Her muscular arms filled out a bit, and her nails shifted into a ripe peach color that looked as if it was nail paint.

"Paiva" she said, she actually liked the spur of the moment name, and tried to remember this image exactly, because it apparently worked. She checked herself in the mirror one last time and washed her hands.

"Good morning," she smiled to her one night stand.

"Hey" he said and went over to kiss her._ Ugh, morning breath,_ she thought, but accepted the kiss_._

"My plane leaves in forty minutes, I'm already late" she said.

"Well, I was thinking, and if you can't smoke in Panama, it can't be much fun." He said to her. Her eyes popped.

"What?" she said. Her vocal chords were betraying her and saying that in a voice unlike her own. She cleared her throat, to blame the morning or a sore throat, and repeated herself.

"I mean, if that's okay with you." He said.

"Mierda. You're not gonna like this then." She said, a nail nervously going to tap her teeth.

"Can't be worse than what I just left behind" he said.

"Wait a sec, what was your name again?" she asked.

"John Allerdyce" he said.

"I can't place it, but I am sure I have heard that name somewhere" she said to him. She thought hard.

"Well, I have never met you" he tried to get her off track.

"Does the name Prosen mean anything to you?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Oh, then." She said and sat back on the bed.

"What is it that you think I won't like?" he asked, urgently. She grabbed his zippo from the bedside and flicked it open, she was about to set it back when he snatched it from her. He just gave her a look, and she did not ask.

"What's your stance on mutants?" she asked, she grabbed the first thing she saw that would inflict harm or protect her.

"Why is that relevant?" he asked. He sat down besides her. If she did not know any better, she'd say…

"Against? Neutral? For them?" she asked.

"Hmm. I guess I'd be for them" he said. He got closer to her and tried to suck on her neck. He noticed that she did not have any hickie from last night. He ignored the thought and proceeded. She jumped away.

"John!" she exclaimed. And then it clicked in her head. "I just remembered." She said, a twinkle in her eyes.

"You lived in New York. You were inseparable with Drake. And the invisible girl always with them, what was her name?" she said, but she was more mumbling to herself. He only made out one word.

"Drake?" he asked. He looked confusedly at her.

"I know from where it is that I know you," she said, her voice shaking.

* * *

He had on his tux. Henri was leaning against a pillar besides him. The priest was already besides him at his right as he watched down to the people and the doors from which Bella would pass any moment now.

He had two decks of cards inside his tux pocket, and he was shuffling them nervously inside his pocket as he waited for Bella to appear.

She had two bridesmaids on the other side of the altar. He thought he had slept with one of them, but could not be sure.

His father was sitting, with a knit brow looking over to the Bordeaux side. Remy chose to stop shuffling his cards when the music stopped. He pulled out the card on top out of instinct.

Queen of Hearts.

He pocketed it quickly again and looked towards an emerging Bella. His eyes would not (could not) falter from her through the entire ceremony.

Bella was halfway down the aisle when a commotion made everyone look to the east.

"Ah'm gonna kill ye, LeBeau!" Remy heard it all to well, him and every other man in the room that took the name LeBeau.

A barmy looking Julien with a gun in each hand stopped the wedding as he shot open the side door. Remy had not even noticed the absence of his soon to be brother in law. Maybe he just did not miss him because the bastard had tried to kill him not five days ago.

He fired five times. No one on the Bordeaux side drew a gun, even though all of them had on hidden in their formalware, most of the ladies included.

Remy quickly stopped each bullet with an accurate and timely charged card. They were aimed towards him and Henri, they both ducked too.

"See!!!" Julien screamed when the first two bullets collided with their other half, a charged card. But he must have not filled the pistols correctly, because from the five times gunshot was heard, only four bullets zoomed towards Remy. The last card hit Julien straight in the chest.

* * *

"Ravecork, is it?" the manager asked. Marie nodded, actually, Erin nodded.

"Yes, sir" she said quickly.

"Funny name" he said.

"Ah know, I've heard that in one town too many" she lied with a smile.

"What brings you to Mobile, then?" he asked. Erin shrugged.

"Ah've been living as a stray for a couple of years, Ah think this is a good place to settle down in. Ah've been here a few weeks, and it's suited me just fine. But Ah can't settle down without a job" she imagined the scenario.

"What's to say you won't go drifting again?" he asked.

"Well, Ah have a sweetheart, and I think he wants me to stay. And he is just so perfect, Ah can't see myself leaving him." She managed to blush as she said that. Mr. Thornton managed to smile at that before stamping her application.

"Welcome to Best Buy, Ms. Ravecork" Marie smiled.

"Just Erin is okay" she replied and shook his hand.

"I'll have Marietta show you the ropes, Erin" he said and asked her to follow him towards the paying counters.

"Merri!" Mr. Hornglum called. A woman, no, a girl, with bouncy blonde curls and a suntan you can only get in the south made her way towards them.

"Yes?" she said.

"New girl, Erin Ravecork, show her around" he asked and went back towards his office.

"Hi, I'm Marietta, but you can just call me Merri" she asked. Marie smiled and was glad she chose the name Erin.

"I'm Erin Marie, but just Erin is fine" she said back.

"Erin, nice. Okay, you'll need a uniform and a place to leave your bag" she said and took her to the back.

"Yeah, as starters." She said and followed her. Marietta kindly showed her around, even warning her which guys not to go close to. Marie felt happy when she finally finished saying most of the important things.

"It's good to have another girl around, I'm tired of being the joke for the guys around here" she said. Erin gave her a troubled look with a bit of lip biting. But Marie was sure she'd get along just great with the boys, especially if their thoughts of Marietta were similar to the ones Bobby, Paul and John were thinking of her.

"See there, the two guys to your left are Matt and Sid, their the buff work here, and probably the ones worth screwing. The five nerds… well, they're nerds." Merri shrugged. "There's Horace in maintenance, and Esteban, Paul, Ruben and Leo on the floor." She made a few discreet quick eye glances and unseen pointing to show her colleagues. "And then there is Thomas in the gift wrap and customer service," Merri started walking again back towards the cash registers. "Lastly, Eric and Fernie who work the registers, too" Merri said.

"Hey, guys" Merri said as the two of them came closer to the registers.

"Hey, Merri. Hi, Ah'm Eric" the boy with sandy blonde hair shook her hand.

"Erin" she said.

"And I'm Fernie" the other guy with glasses and hair held back in a ponytail. Erin smiled and then turned to Merri again.

"Um, maybe today you can just shadow me. Tomorrow you can handle one yourself" Merri said.

"I've worked in registers before, Merri" Erin said with a laugh.

"Yeah, but the printers are really slow and your bar code ID won't be ready until tomorrow and you need that to work the registers" she said. Erin understood and nodded back.

"Hmm. Maybe I can help in gift wrap or try to find my way around the different aisles?" she offered. Merri shrugged and Erin made her own way through the store.

She walked a few aisles, thankfully not yet seeing any costumers. Actually, she had only seen three or four clients.

"Hello. Are you lost?" A guy asked her. She turned to see a kind face with spiky brown hair and deep brown eyes.

"No, just new" she said. She looked at his name tag. Paul.

"Oh, look, company shirt." He joked.

"I know, usually comes with the job, Paul" she said.

"Nice to see you know my name. What's yours?" he asked.

"Erin Marie" she supplied.

"Sounds nice, I once had a girl who was named Anna Marie" he said. Marie came out. She nearly fainted. She had also noticed the anger that he had tried to hide from her. Oh, god. Paul.

"Well, I usually just go by Erin" she said with a smile. He smiled back.

"Erin, then" she said. She was suddenly glad that she had lost her tan and decided to dye her hair, Paul did not recognize her.

"Care to show me around?" she asked. "I still have to meet everyone" she said.

"Sure thing." He said.

"It's kinda empty, is it not?" she asked. He laughed.

"I guess, between the economy as it is and this being the farthest store from the city center. This is actually the third Best Buy in Mobile" he told her. She nodded and observed the aisles attentively, making sure to slowly learn where everything was, or at least the general idea of the aisle.

"You know, your eyes remind me of someone, but I can't place who" he said. Erin blinked deeply, wishing she had more ways to disguise herself.

"Well, I was born in New Orleans, but I have traveled for the past eight years all over Montreal, Ontario, Quebec, Jersey, New York, Maryland… The northeast." She lied again. The first city came from Remy, but the rest did not. For some reason, Henri reacted to her lie.

"Then I guess it is just a memory trying to break through" he said.

"What about you?" she asked, not sure she wanted to hear but decided to do the polite thing and ask.

* * *

Thank you for reading, If you leave a review that will give me an incentive to want to finish the next chapter quickly!! I think I'm close to the end, too.


	19. Anaerobic Asphyxia

Disclaimer: it all belongs to marvel, fox and now disney, i guess.

* * *

Anaerobic Asphyxia

* * *

"It is" Storm finally cleared up. "Welcome back, Warren"

"Excuse me?" Warren looked at the woman. "Storm?" he said as he recognized her.

"Yeah, I'm afraid the years have not been good on me." She half smiled.

"On the contrary, you have not aged a bit" he said. "Me, on the other hand"

"I saw you save your father, Warren. Very noble of you" Storm said. Warren was then introduced to the rest of the team. He smiled at all of them, deciding to ignore the bad vibes inside the room. He wished he was back with Rogue.

* * *

"Get out" Jean-Luc, said to him. Remy looked up from his damaged hands, they were the culprits of everything for him.

"Oui, pere" he replied.

"You cannot come back"

"Oui," he did not even bother to look up.

"Fil, I don't want this. But it's the only thing that the Killers Guild would accept. Whoever sees you will kill you" he told his adopted son, whom he loved as much as his real son.

"Je sais" he said without interest. He had just lost his life. And he had no idea how to find the one thing that he considered a back-up plan. Rogue was completely gone, too.

He packed light, some clothes and some money. He was quickly lost in the darkness of the night. He planned to not wake up anywhere near Louisiana.

* * *

She bit her lip nervously. She never thought this was gonna be so hard. Making a new life was not supposed to make the old one come back to her.

Her old life… she had done so much to escape from it. Going far away was supposed to help her, she thought a new life would kill the ghosts of the past.

She hated the ghosts, the ghosts made her feel impotent. Powerless. Yet, there was no way around it. Wherever she went, she found someone else.

She hated having such a bad background. She has been to too many places, and left a mark with so many people.

Her history made her regret so many things, but her ways now where not so much better.

She always managed to end up sneaking away from everyone, escaping like that.

She was not sure what to do know.

* * *

"Erin?" Merri asked her. Erin looked up to her.

"Hmm?" she asked.

"You spaced out" Merri said to her.

"Sorry" she said and went back to paying attention.

"No worries, there are no clients anyhow" Merri said sadly.

"Merri, was this place ever full?"

"yeah, when I started working here around ten years ago" she said.

'You've been her ten years?" Erin asked amazed.

"Yeah," Merri said, somewhat defensively.

Marie decided that as soon as she had enough money she would leave. She had a Canadian passport, courtesy of the X-men. Maybe she could get a job and study there.

Besides, having these reactions of the Paul she grew to behave in her head of what he really became is too weird. She after a week of dealing with him, she was dizzy with every conversation she had for him.

Her headaches were diminishing, but he made them worse.

She had to get out. She chose that the moment she had enough money, she would leave. Get away from these ghosts.

* * *

The phone rang, and rang. Warren looked around, he really did not want to get up and answer that. But since McCoy left (he is now in Washington again), Ms. Monroe was outside in the gardens watering her flower beds and Bobby was probably too busy trying to charm the pants out of Kitty, who in an attempt to ignore Bobby took to ignoring many other things. He huffed and got up.

"Xavier Institute, Warren speaking" he said boringly into the phone.

"Hello? This is Moire Mactaggert" the name rang a bell to him, but he was a bit unsure.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I need Ms. Monroe and Mr. Summors to come to Muir Island" she asked.

"Um, Mr. Summers can't but I can transfer Ms. Monroe for you"

"It'd be appreciated lad," the scotwoman thanked.

"Just a sec" Warren said and headed out to look for her. Too bad they were short a telepath.

* * *

"What's wrong, Paiva?" he asked. For the first time he even remembered the name of the girl he slept with the night before. She felt like honey in his hands, and her eyes were tiny specks of ember playing with him.

"My name's not Paiva" the woman, no longer a stranger, across from him said.

"Then…" he started.

"In a way, I'm glad you don't remember me." She said.

"Wha—

"That means you can forget me twice just as easily"

"Bu—

"I know, I'm a manipulative bitch, and you're an awesome lay, but I don't usually do this. I thought you were a stranger. I mean, you are a stranger. I just know who you are."

"Who ar—

"I know you hated the institute just as much as I did. I left not weeks after the Alcali Lake incident"

John finally decided to stay quiet and not interrupt.

"Wow. I feel so stupid right now. If I had not opened my big mouth I would've slipped out of this room in under fifteen minutes. And I am going to miss my flight, again." She groaned. She sat on the edge of the bed with nervousness dripping from her. He waited a minute to make sure she was done talking.

"You were at Xavier's?" he started off incredulously. "I'm pretty sure I would remember your face. Hey, I don't blame you for thinking I was not worth anything other than a one night stand, be it the other way around, I'm pretty sure that I would have left you without a sign when you woke up. I mean," he stopped to try and say something coherent. "Right now, I have no direction in life. For a moment, you seemed a good direction. But if you see nothing in me…" he started to get pick up his wallet as well.

"If I tell you my real name, you wouldn't let me go" she said sadly.

"What?"

"If you knew who I am, you'd probably run away. I used to make myself so ugly" she said mostly to herself.

"Listen, I have no direction in my life. It just broke around me. If you let me, I would like to be in yours"

"But you wouldn't" she said too honestly.

"Try me" he said.

"I'm a deceiver. My parents think I study in Houston. They don't know I got a job and then transferred to Seattle, they don't know how much money I make. I have a boyfriend in Houston, a girlfriend in Seattle, and a life in Costa Rica. My family does not know that I am a mutant. Hell, they'd burn me at a stake if they knew that. I travel to different countries in my summers and am a different person everywhere I go. In Seattle, there is this guy that makes fake ids and passports. He creates three names for me per year. I pay him a good sum. My mutant powers are all but defensive, which is best, considered the life I have led. Or maybe my choices in life are a product of my powers, I don't know."

"So." John said, unable to think of anything smart to say.

"Elena Loza. Xavier told all of you I was from New Mexico at my request to keep my anonymity. My parents thought I was going to yet another private school. I got my first alias there: Timeshift." the girl informed him.

John racked his brains. He could not remember.

"I was friends with Amara, mostly" she said. The only girl that Amara hung out with was a silent, myopia ridden girl with charcoal black hair. He had no idea what her powers were.

"No, Amara hung out with that girl with glasses and black hair" he remembered.

"Yes, that's me. At least that's Elena Loza" she told him.

"And your real name?"

"Oh, that's my real name, its simply not my real face"

"You're a shapeshifter?" he finally deduced.

"Yes. My specialty is actually changing my hair, but at the Institute the last thing I wanted was to attract too much attention. Like the invisible girl." She recalled.

"Who is the invisible girl? Shadowcat?" he asked.

"Oh no, she was anything but invisible with that big huge fake Bilbo personality of hers. She's smart, but likes the attention to much. You know, white bangs and auburn hair" she said.

"Rogue?" John asked. He then laughed.

"Yeah, she was sort of invisible"

"Huh, I guess in a way." He replied. But from then on he remembered every recent thing about her._ She took the cure. She betrayed their kind. _

"John?" Elena/Paiva asked.

"She was anything but invisible" was all he ended up saying.

"Whatever." She said and made to leave. John saw her get up and felt hot anger around him as she browsed her handbag.

"You know what." He started to say to his clenched fists and then towards her. Paiva turned with her wallet in her hand. "I've had enough of women taking whatever the fuck they want from me" he said and grabbed her roughly from an arm. Thoughts of Rogue and her luring him. Thoughts of Mystique and her effing Brotherhood. This girl was not about to be another one to use him.

"I think it's my turn" he said and pushed her on the bed.

"Really, John, I just want to get home"

"Home'll have to wait, cuz right now I'm gonna fuck you again, harder than last night, until I decide what I want to do" he said to her. Flames danced in his eyes. But ember ignited in hers too.

"I don't let anyone into my life that easily" she responded, hoping he would at least understand that she was a drifter, even if he went to Costa Rica, that the one place she was never at.

"Yeah, you do, you're not a slut because you walk away from everything." she tried to interfere, but decide against it. "But I am sure you have left more than one guy hanging low as you intended to do me. So this is for all of them, he started to unzip his pants and take his t-shirt off. Paiva rolled of the bed and crouched on the floor. She kept thinking that he was going to throw fire at her any second now.

But she saw his lighter right in front of her, in the nightstand. She was closer than he was.

She reached for it fast, then threw it under the bed where he would not reach it, she thought it was a smart move. But she had a man nearly naked and angry enough to literally flame the room standing beside her seconds later. She looked up defiantly.

"Please, don't be so cocky" she said. "Your cock isnt even that big"

"I don't think you're understanding me" he said, furious.

"I know you are just playing" she teased. She was not scared, not of him.

He pulled her up by her thorax and then took of her shirt slowly, she resisted, but he got it.

He grabbed her chin and looked into the mysterious eyes.

"Is anything I'm looking at real?" he asked her.

"Most of it" she replied. By the way he looked at her, she was almost sure that he would not hurt her. Just for safety, she allowed one finger to harden and shift into a blade. it would only last one hit, but it was at least something.

"Is this real?" he asked as he squeezed a buttcheek. She nodded, after all, one pant size was nothing. His hand softly trailed under her shirt through her spine. He found her bra and undid it. Following the bra's outline he reached her right breast. "And this?" he asked. She shook her head. She felt a bit naked, even considering that they had slept together already. He raked each arm to take her bra off. She shivered. Her nipples perked.

"Show me what they would look like." He asked as his free hand thumbed the other nipple. She swallowed hard and relaxed her chest area. The fake boobs deflated in a few seconds. The difference was not that much.

"That difference, was it really worth the effort to put that on?" he asked.

"You'd be surprised how much a cup size changes a man's perspective" she countered, her voice clear and her sight challenging, but her breasts responding to his ministrations.

When her mouth quivered slightly, she bit her lower inner lip, so he would not notice.

He then reached his face down to her breasts and it was all downhill from there. She could not resist. Her reality was this: she had hooked the worse man ever, but she liked it.

"Please, tell me your hair is real" he whispered in her ear at some point. She merely nodded.

Maybe he would understand. Maybe he didn't need her, just was lonely. But her thought processes slowly dwindled as the pleasure grew.

She would have to get a later flight for two.

* * *

"Thank you" she said to Paul, the boy was close to figuring her out, so she kept being as weird and different as she could. He probably remembered her insecure self when she first arrived at Meridian, her foster parents somehow managed to make her feel right at home. The day was at an end and so was the shift.

"No problem," he said with a grin. "Say, woulda like to grab lunch sometime?" he asked. This was exactly how she remembered Paul to be. And the voice in her head of him agreed. She wished that the voice had no longer existed, as she had wished too many times and for too long.

"Um, sure" she said. She managed to fake a blush, or at least Erin did. She got it simply enough, fitting into the role.

She walked out of the store. She left more than she should have at the locker she had been assigned, but it was a thousand times better than carrying everything around. She had left her duffel bag in the motel she had used the day before. She reckoned she would like to change into a prettier hotel room. She found a halfway decent room and managed.

She found a room and looked out into the very lit and hectic life on the streets around her. This would work fine. As soon as she had enough money, she would go back to Canada. There, Danielle Andrews was sure to move in and move on. She was sure of it. She had to make it work. A new life was ahead of her, with no more ghosts of the past with her.

* * *

Don't worry, I'll have much more Rogue for the next chapter. Not sure what to do with Remy now, im afraid of bringing in Sinister and making this even longer, i already have an ending plotted out in which Remy does not have much part.

Paiva / Elena... ugh, i dont know where that came from. So many students are supposed to not stay long at the institute, i was just playing a bit, it evolved into a bit too much of being a mary sue. anyways, im cutting her lose as quick as i can. maybe one or two more segments with her, or keep her way in the background, imagine a John with no sexual tension for a change.

thanks for reading, really,


	20. Absentee Aside

hello!

new chapter, im trying to incorporate everyone in this chapter. Don't worry if you feel remy is left out. I have something special for him next.

Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 20

"I knew I'd find you here" a feminine voice spoke around him and he turned back to see an elegant woman with black short hair.

"So you heard" the old man, with his face hidden in a hat, a coat covering most of him and cold blue eyes facing the distance replied uninterested.

"I don't know anything. I can tell you who is like me, I have looked up many up. I can tell you how many died, too" she said to him.

"I'm like you, regrettably" he shared.

"Oh" her face fell, but he had been too busy looking at the horizon to look at her.

"I'm afraid we lost too many of our number. And that was only the first round" he spoke. One of her eyes lit up.

"Really? We intend to keep fighting?" she asked surprised. How was she supposed to fight, or even lead, without her powers?

"Certainly, and with Xavier out of the way, this time it will be easier" he concluded.

"I don't know. I think his protégés are following his footsteps against you" she shared.

"Let them try" he said. He finally looked at her. She was sitting across from the chessboard in front of him. Her blue eyes seemed so… normal. She looked at him with a mixture of pleasure and hope.

"During my research," she started to say. "I found out about the boy, and his powers are only temporary. Whoever is exposed to him, later regains their powers. No matter how much they isolated from him, its bound to fail and fade. This is only temporary. The less you were exposed to, the quicker they'll come back" she said. His interest was perked. She showed no signs of her real self, yet. But he looked at the chess game.

"The more powerful you are, the quicker that you're powers will come back. To those younger, maybe even exponentially" he confided in her his theory as he knocked down all the white pieces facing him.

"That's good to know" she smirked at him.

"I can't wait until you are back too, my dear Mystique" he said to her with a grin.

"I understand, you know. When I lost my powers, you did not know. I was bound to be a liability to all of you" she said, in some words forgiving him for leaving her behind before.

"Good. Now let's start planning. I have a theory" he said to her. Her interest perked and she started to listen.

* * *

"Can you stay with the younger ones, Piotr?" Storm asked.

"Yes." He replied.

"I'll stay with him" Warren said. Storm nodded and looked at Bobby and Kitty, the other two assigned to the mission of going with her. The idea that they were a couple was not exactly something that made her comfortable, but she would have to deal with it.

"I expect the two of you to be on your best behavior. Moira knows of Xavier's death, so be tactful, the two… They had a history together" she finished.

"Sure"

"Yeah" they answered. Wolverine had skipped that morning and left no note. She just hoped he would return soon.

"Call us if Logan shows up" she asked of the other two.

"Will do" Warren replied.

"Or if there is any other trouble" Bobby said, thinking of the new it group that was pulling pranks all over the institute. They nodded.

"Suit up, we leave in fifteen" Storm said and they all left. She sighed deeply.

She was not looking forward to a visit to Muir Island.

* * *

He was fast asleep. She was not close to him, but not as close. She moved carefully, slowly and silently out of the bed. Her clothes were thrown all over the room. Her baggage was the tricky part to get out. She grabbed her purse and produced a hairband to pull her hair up again. She stayed silent. She looked at the bed. He snored.

No time to waste, it was now or never. She went to the bathroom to check herself over, the plane was lost, but there were still two planes today, not to mention the two buses that would be her last option. She peeked outside and saw him still laying on the bed, facing down, drooling and snoring. She moved silently again.

She opened the door, slowly as to not make any noise. Once she had it completely open, her purse would keep it open as she took her luggage bag out. She grabbed the bag, and moved it slowly. Once it was outside the room, she sighed in relief. She was gonna be able to escape. She looked once more at the bed. He was still laying down. She looked around and saw his shirt thrown closer to the bed than she remembered.

Whatever, she removed her purse that was holding the door down and closed. Once behind a closed door, she allowed herself to breath normally. She took the elevator quickly and then headed to the airport across the street.

* * *

Nevada. He had been there, anyways. But here he was, starting new, starting fresh. The bad side: wedding chapels everywhere. The up side: easiest money in the world.

He started with the smaller casinos, by the end of the week they would not know what hit them.

However, the game did not feel the same. He felt something missing.

But he was sure as hell it was not Belladonna Bordeaux.

* * *

"How come you never finished college?" Paul asked her over lunch. It was Wendy's, but since it was his treat it tasted even better. She was starting to go low on funds since she got a better room than that crappy motel, but it was worth it. Good thing Erin had thought of most of the questions he might pop to her. She pretended to blush for this answer, it seemed a nice quality for Erin.

"Well, I might have ended up with just about the two baddest guys in that college, bad boys all the way, I'm afraid that seems to be my thing. To attract the worst possible guy ever" she said to him. Paul smiled.

"Nah, you're radar can't be that off if you came to lunch with me" he laughed. Marie remembered that laugh, wanted to reminisce and look back at the past. But Erin ignored those two voices playing in the back of her head, and laughed with him.

"How about you, no college?" she asked and then sipped through her straw.

"I dreamt of it, if that counts as anything." He told her. "I wanted to be an astronomer, learn about space but stay safe, you know? Even though I would also love to be in space. Can you imagine that? Nothing and no one living in such a great distance?" he said to her.

"Wow," Marie did not want to ask what stopped him, she damn well knew what it was: her.

"Anyways, I had an ugly injury and spent half a year in a coma, when I woke up, my parents were too concerned that my head would not be the same and dissuaded me of college" he smiled, but this time it was forced. Erin only half smiled in return.,

"Sounds terrible"

"It was, Erin. My girlfriend…"

"Oh, I don't need to know, Paul, don't worry" she said and in her head begged him to shut up.

"You're right, I'm sorry" he said.

A tiny voice inside Marie's head shook its head and called out in pain. Even though the real Paul said nothing, the Paul inside her head shared every moment of those minutes before he fell unconscious for the longest time in his life. Her dumb dream of Canada, her coming towards him, he knew what was coming, and tried to go slow, but wanted it so badly. He might have thought for a second that she might be scared, but never that he'd be the one scared. Asides from that, having another mind inside hers for the first time was even scarier for Marie.

"Get away from me!" she screamed and pulled away.

Paul looked at her puzzled, then scared. Marie stepped away and then crunched into a ball. Some people stared, Paul tried to smile and for them not to worry before reaching her.

"Erin? What's wrong?" he asked. She took a deep breath and shoved it all to the back.

"Sorry, that doesn't happen often," she lied. "I just remembered a bad memory is all" she cleared up as best she could. His memory and hers combined. She had seen many peoples memories, worse than that, a thousand times. Why was she unable to keep this to herself?

"So" he said.

"Lunch break is almost over, we should get going back" she said. He nodded as she got herself up. He looked at her strangely,

"Come on, Paul" she beckoned him over. "I'm fine now, I promise" But she knew, deep inside, that this was only a small part of what was wrong.

"And the gentleman wins with a pair of jacks" the dealer told the table. It was full and Remy had already lost a few hundreds in the beginning for it not to be suspicious now that he started winning the big bucks: just this round, nine hundred was on him.

He raised an eyebrow from beneath his sunglasses to a fellow table partner that was doing quite well himself, that was, of course, when Remy was playing nice and wanted him to get cocky, that meant he'd make mistakes later on.

* * *

A beautiful woman with large curves approached the table. She had a nice smile plastered on her made up face, and her breasts fitted perfectly with her large frame. She looked up to the table to all of them.

"Ah!, Une belle femme. C'est la premiere dans la nuit" Remy said to her. She apparently got nothing, because she simply stared at him after the other guys got whisky, beer and vodka.

"Bourbon" he said and smiled at her. She was not interested, because she turned and headed to get their drinks right away. Remy thought that he might be losing his touch.

Or maybe she was simply playing for the other side, he considered as he followed her with his gaze to a table with women at which she stayed more than needed.

Well, the night was still young to find a place to sleep the night, he decided and kept playing.

* * *

John had imagined that this was gonna happen, that's why he let her leave.

But he was not giving up so quickly. He placed his jeans and shirt on as quick as he could, pulled his duffel bag over his shoulder and left the room with eyes wide open to find her.

She was at the airport, looking carefully from side to side. But he stayed hidden. As soon as she purchased her ticket, he knew where, just not which flight.

She was able to melt completely into the crowd, but he followed her shiny golden amber hair through the airport. She settled on a couple of seats very close to gate C17.

He stayed out of sight but kept watching her. He produced his handheld phone and got on the internet: he found the only flight traveling from Panama to Costa Rica programmed for gate c17 was from an airline named Taca, and that this plane was leaving at three. It was barely one.

She produced an white cable that must go with an ipod and a book, as far as he could tell: Stephen King. He left his watching post to get a sub from the deli a few gates behind, and his own ticket.

* * *

She wasn't sure if this is what she wanted. But she needed at least to make money somehow.

She'd stay a month tops. Being with Paul was making the inner Paul unbearable, and she had now idea how long before Storm cut off her institute credit card.

"Erin, you're daydreaming again?" Marrieta asked. She shook her head and then smiled at her.

"Caught" she smiled and laughed.

"Don't worry." She smiled back. "Better me than the manager" she joked. Erin laughed back. There were about five costumers around the store, none near the cashiers.

This place was a pithole. She needed a different job.

* * *

Thanks for reading. I'd love if you review too.

But then again, seeing Paul. She shook her head, she did not want to go back to that again.


	21. Anachronism

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Marvel does, i mean Disney does.

I won't say anything until the end

* * *

Winnie had a natural talent for this. Theo took a lot of pictures from various different angles. The newest addition to the market, discovered not three months ago at a shopping mall, was literally eighteen. Yet the maturity and history in her eyes made her look older. But her body was much younger than she appeared. Apparently, Dom had found her while shopping in the south, and she with broken French and Spanish was able to communicate well.

"Hold the strap of the bikini and pull it downwards" he asked of the model. Winnie Olga Beaucoup was an import, and one of the finest in a long time. She had wavy golden brown hair, not much money in her pocket and nothing and no one to respond for her. What they were able to understand is that she moved with a cousin, but then was kicked out when a third kid was on the way and she was simply taking up too much space. Theo loved working with her. She was malleable to his directing skills, and in the past two months her photographs were still never the same. In fact, Dom had just suggested changing her hair color to plain brown. He was sure that her moss green eyes would stand out even more with that.

"Now take a hand to the necklace, and another to your breasts" she did so and looked at him with her doe eyes. The wavy hair behind her moved well in the artificial wind that was set up just before him. He appreciated the girl in front of him quite enough. She refused to take of her clothes, she had managed with her own translator to get paid well, and she was business savvy, not a dumb blonde to just pop into the media just like that. And she was just eighteen.

"Lovely, now smile, play with the necklace" she did so. It looked natural, and her life was completely her own. She had her own place to live, her own very big and stable bank account and a life going on for herself. The one thing , and this most probably affected her factor in the media, is that she was never seen outside. The fame did not cloud her judgment and her life was a secret. Who she was seen with, who she spent her time with was a complete mystery. And that was her allure.

"Okay" he told her. The memory was filled, there were about 600 slides to chose for the seven image ad campaign that was going to fill America for the next month. She was the new face of summer Tiffany's.

* * *

Elena didn't bother to shift to get on the next plane. She hoped that John had forgotten about her already. But something in the pit of her stomach she knew that he had not. She pretended to settle down to read Paranoia, but kept watch to see if she saw him. For the longest time she didn't, and when finally the plane started to be called she sighed in relief as she got on.

He made sure she was already inside the plane before he followed suit. He had gotten a seat in one of the first rows, just to be sure she would not see him until they arrived.

During the plane ride, she manually had to change and make herself look like the person that her parents knew. Straight hair, green eyes, ugly stubby hands, big ass, and that unimportant outfit that she used for them. Yeah, I just come back from school. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, as far as they knew what she always wore.

She smiled at herself at the mirror, hoping that her parents were none the wiser.

They were about to land. She went back to her seat. She organized the secret compartments in her purse and made sure her other passports were inconspicuous.

John was the second one out of the airplane. He had taken out his bag with his few belongings quickly. He then got out, pretended to be looking for filled out paperwork as he let a few people before him so he knew where to go by following the crowd. He strolled about, he still had on the same shirt from yesterday. He hadn't seen Paiva yet.

He was quickly separated from the locals, and the probability of seeing her as they reached inmigration. He then went to the baggage claim. He walked about, pretending to wait for his own for a while until he saw her.

She was paying close attention to the rack. It bugged her endlessly to have to wait so much for her bags to come out. He saw red, black, green, orange, white, and even yellow polka dots come out, but no sight of her navy blue bags.

He had seen her, but stayed a few strategic steps away. He already had a plan.

"Ahi!" she said beneath her breath, but John heard her, when she finally had a glimpse of her bags, as she came forward to grab it a hand beat her to it and pulled the bag out for her.

"Gracias!" she said while looking to the generous person that helped her. Her mouth stayed open. John took up his hand to gently close her mouth. She zapped his hand away and shut her mouth herself.

"Fuck, John" she said. "Didn't I tell you that I already have a life?" she said.

"Please, Paiva" he said. "I want to be with you" Was this love sick fool for real? Elena thought.

"That's not my name. And don't call me that here" she asked.

"Please, give me chance. You can tell your family anything you want about me. I can be whatever you want me to be" he offered. "I have nowhere to go, and I have to have a reason to be. And you are a great one" he said.

"Well, get another, find another here if that is what you want." She replied.

"Perdon" a man squished himself towards the rail to recover his bag as well.

"Disculpe" Paiva said and pulled him by the shoulder.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"You" he said simply.

"But you don't know me" she replied,

"I have all the time in the world to get to know you" he replied. She huffed. But somehow, she had already developed a soft spot for this pyromaniac.

"Please" he said, and for some reason this time his puppy brown eyes had a way of getting to her.

"Ugh, fine. You'll have to stay at a hotel, you can't meet my family yet, and they are here to receive me." She started rummaging through her purse. She produced a pen and paper.

"This hotel is good, not too expensive, and I get there tomorrow at some time. Call me to this number if anything, and try to not burn anything" she asked.

"Will do" he said. She stared at him, trying to figure him out. But nothing came to her. She finally gave up and started to leave. He then grabbed her elbow, she turned again. He kissed her smoothly. And she let him.

"Call me Elena, please" she asked as she finally left. He looked at the paper in his hand. She had an eight digit phone number that started with eight. Funny.

* * *

"Thanks for coming so quickly, Ororo" she said. Ororo nodded and motioned for the rest of the team as she introduced them,

"Nice to meet all of you, if you'll just come this way" she let everyone into her house. There were many people inside, guests and staff. "The lab is downstairs, and the patients are in the left wing" she informed them.

"You run investigations here?" Kitty asked.

"Yes and no. My investigations are purely theoretical, the patients are granted good accommodations. We simply monitor their brain activity. Would you two like a tour?" she offered the young ones. Ororo had a feeling that the news she need to share with her was of a sensible nature.

"Yes, please" Kitty answered. Ms. MacTaggert said something into a comm device on her wrist that looked like a watch. A handsome young man in his twenties came and took Kitty and Bobby away.

"What's going on, Moira?" Ororo asked.

"Please, come to my office" she asked of her.

Ororo followed her, but had feeling that she was not going to like this.

Moira had a beautiful large desk with a leather chair at each side. A top notch computer sat humming patiently for its newest task. Behind the desk and following the rest of the back wall was a bookshelf almost completely filled. Ororo read some titles, it included physics, physiology, biology, metaphysics, mutations, many different titles in a broad range of subjects.

"Please, come" Moira spoke as she settled on a leather couch that comfortably could fit four people.

"Do you rememeber that crazy theory of Xavier's that one person with no consciousness, say one of my patients that are called brain dead, their bodies are completely functional, but they have no neural activity and no life.

"Yes, for a terminally ill patient to switch bodies with a perfectly healthy body in coma... He still uses that as the key example to his ethics class."

"Yes, well, that doesn't surprise me" Moira replied with knowing smile. "Well, you see, I have this patient, his name is (I cant remember the name!) and about two weeks ago he spoke to me." She said carefully, tactfully.

"Your brain dead patient spoke to you?"

"Yes"

"How is that possible?" Ororo was confused.

"Well, you see, the theory…"

"Wait, what day was this?" Ororo finally asked shocked.

"The day Charles died. Two days before I was called for the funeral" she replied.

"Are you telling me that Charles is not dead? That he moved his consciousness across the Atlantic ocean and into one of your patients?" she said, it was too much to take.

"Not exactly so, Ororo" A voice interrupted inside her head.

"Charles?" she looked around. Even though she knew she was hearing him just in her brain, she never thought she'd hear his voice again.

"Come, I'll take you to his quarters. He has been on a very strict regime, and finally allowed me to contact you yesterday. Im actually so happy that it was you who came" Ororo was in shock, and Moira had to steer her out of her office and to the room / gym that Professor Charles Xavier had set up for himself.

In his new body, walking was not only possible, but every kind of physical workout and making the once comatose body a fit one had been his thriving force for the past weeks. He looked young, athletic, and he had the muscles and mobility to prove so.

"Charles?" Ororo asked tentatively to the man working out in front of her.

"Ororo, my child, I'm so glad you are here" he replied. It was not exactly his voice, and it was definitely not his body, but this was the Xavier that she had known for the longest time in her life.

"By the Gods, its you!" Ororo said and went to hug him. Tears rolled down her cheeks as they held each other.

Moira let herself out and allowed for the student and teacher to reunite.

* * *

"Say it" he asked, the light danced in his eyes. She knew it was a big step for her, she knew he did not really cared, but needed something to care about after all the things he had gone through.

"I'm a mutant" she said. He stopped sucking on her neck all right. He saw a hematoma start to form where his mouth used to be. She looked at him, her fingers went to feel the skin he had tenderly kissed. She felt the bruising start to form and nipped the upper part of the skin there. She pulled on it and the skin pulled forward, and then the bruised pattern slipped into her hand.

"I don't care that you're a mutant" he said. She replied with a half smile, knowingly.

"Off course you don't, you're a mutant, too" she said. He looked dumbstruck at her.

"Daria Paiva…" he said. She rolled her eyes to the side and smiled mischeviously.

"That's not my actual name, though it does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" she said sneakily.

"Why lie?" he asked.

"Anonymous sex is the best sex" she said knowingly, licking her lips after saying so. John had to agree, unfortunately.

"So, you gonna tell me now?" he asked.

"Hmm…. I don't know" she said. "I am not sure I trust you" she said. He rolled his eyes and went back to kissing her. His hand automatically went to caress her soft bare breast, and his manhood found her wet folds again. They had spent the better part of the night in bed. Talking, then fucking, then talking again.

But the woman besides him wanted to take things slow. She was not yet completely open about herself, she would not allow him near her family and would not tell her much about her other lives.

"Hmm. I can be your partner in crime" he said to her.

"You have been a follower for so much of your life, don't you want to be independent? To fly into the wind not knowing where you'll go from here?" she suggested in between moans. He thrust slowly as he thought about it.

"But I was not born to lead" he replied softly.

"That does not mean you cannot choose your own future, Fuego" she said smoothly, so close to his ear, a soft moan echoing his.

"What did you call me?" he asked.

"Fire" she breathed.

"Hmm. Not bad." He replied.

"I would hope so" she smiled and then went to suck at his neck and arm. He groaned and then placed a kiss and then started to try and eat the skin at the nape of her neck as well.

"You are so good, Paiva" he told her. They were still going slow, and the sweet nothings exchanged were just okay.

"You gonna stick to that name?" she asked. Her eyes closed, she had bitten her lip when he fastened the pace a bit, and he looked closely at her.

"Why not, it suits you" he said.

"But you know its not my name.

"Well then, you know Fuego is not my name either"

"Ahh. Fuck me harder and stop talking, John" she finally asked.

"As you wish" he then kissed her mouth forcefully, and then both screamed into each others mouth as the feelings racked their bodies, hot skin against hotter skin, sweat amounting between themselves, and this time with space to move around.

* * *

She changed her hair again. This time she went to a radical new her and changed it to a golden brown. She had left Mobile after her first paycheck, it was not much, but should get her at least a few states away.

This time she traveled by bus, turned out to be cheaper. And she wasn't traveling as far as before.

She arrived in Louisiana, and to celebrate she made her way to the mall to find a few more summer dresses to wear. She thought she might even find a job there, even if it did not pay much. She took out her four ids: Marie D'Ancanto, Danielle Andrews, Erin Ravecork and Winifred Beaucoup. In all of them she had photoshopped hair, courtesy of the local computer geek at Xaviers, she seemed to recall his name was Webber. She had purple hair as Erin, golden brown hair as Winifred, black as Danielle and was wearing a hat and glasses as herself. She thought the color she chose looked a lot like Winifred Beaucoup, a name she wished she could change..

"Winifred?" she thought out loud, but then again, she had to be changing. She hid the rest of the ids with her extra cash in the secret zipper of her bag. She placed Winifred Beacoup at the top of her wallet. She bought a flowing white dress with a crochet pattern that danced across her abdomen. She changed into it and wondered around the mall, exposing and flaunting her new tan, as she concentrated on the personality and history of the new person she was about to be.

No English, she had a good French foundation and she was after all in Louisiana. Maybe Winnie for short. Used to live in Latin America, no links. Family unknown.

Marie window shopped for a while, knowing it was best to spend the littlest amount of money as possible. She loved the breeze, although artificial, that made her sundress flow around her legs. She was not worrying about anything, had kept training while in Mobile and felt as good as ever. She was even starting to consider college, save some money, find a state college around the south, a whole new beginning awaited her. You don't have to be a metamorph to blend in.

* * *

Jubilee was bored out of her mind. Wolverine had taken all the new recruits out camping to test their skills, she did not specifically want any details on that.

After eight hours at her computer, she had had enough, so she turned it off and started walking around the mansion. It was quiet enough, she just hopped not to hear Bobby and Kitty somewhere around the mansion. She passed the front door and saw the mail. She took her magazines, Elle, Marie Claire and Vogue had just arrived.

She now had something to do.

She went down to the empty game room, thank goodness it was empty, and settled on a couch to page through them.

She started with Vogue, there was another blonde girl on the cover, she opened it and started leafing through. Fake boobs, fake hair, fake ass. Finally, she found some clothes. She found a collection of summer dresses to die for, ranging from pink to purple to plaid. She saw a beautiful dress tagged at three hundred and ninety dollars. She saw a hot little piece of tube bottom skirt with a wavy one shoulder upper part. The model was standing sideways to accentuate her butt, but it was not necessary. She then turned to see the model, just for the sake of a little bit of benign envy. She saw green on brown eyes staring back at her, with wavy golden blonde hair surrounding her in a sexy style.

She then wrinkled her nose and turned the page around. It was the same model in all of the collection, except for two or three outfits, She went back to the first one she saw, the face looked familiar, but just the face. The skin color was off, the hair color was off, but it reminded her of someone she knew.

"Oh SH…. HELLLL NOO!" she screamed. She connected two dots that were impossible to connect.

Just then, she heard a ruckus upstairs.

"Bug, was I too loud?" she looked around. Piotr was standing in the doorway not a minute later, and Warren quickly followed. She dropped the magazine and took the other one.

"What happened?" Piotr asked in his sexy thick accent, Jubilee took a second to take in the accent, she still was not used to it, then replied.

"Um, I saw a bug" she lied.

"Right" Warren said. "Last time you saw a bug you brought it to me in your hand and I shooed you away. What is it?"

"Um, I just… I could be wrong" she started off.

"About what?" Piotr asked, irritated.

"About this" she showed them the picture of the blonde girl in a sexy navy blue dress.

"Who is that?" Warren asked. He then looked at carefully, making his eyes grow wide.

"That, is the new face of Saks Fifth Avenue" Jubilee informed the two guys.

"Huh, so?" Piotr asked.

"Take away the hair, Piotr" Warren pointed out.

"Eto vozmozhno?" he looked in awe. (Is it possible?)

"What?" Jubilee asked, confused.

"Is that Rogue?" he finally said.

"I think so," Warren said.

"I think so too." Jubilee said.

"We can't tell anybody" Warren said.

"Duh, it would blow her cover" Jubilee said.

"He means to not say anything, to throw those magazines away before anyone else sees them" Piotr said.

"And especially for you," Piotr emphazised to her, "to keep your mouth shut"

"But"

"No"

"Come o-

"Jubilee, don't make me ask the professor to erase that memory from you" he said tactfully.

"Ugh" she sighed in defeat, she then went back to her magazines.

"She's on the cover of Marie Claire, too" she said as they were starting to leave. "She's making the easiest money of her life. That should be me" she said to nobody.

As he was going upstairs, he made a mental call to Xavier: _Professor, Jubilee knows._

_It was bound to happen, Piotr. Thank you for controlling it. I'll take care of it later. We must make sure that Wolverine does not find out. _

* * *

Dom Aziza Lishe has been in the business for almost a decade now, and was afraid that she was getting old and was about to get kicked out. She had been mall tripping for the past week finding the new, fresh look that the company wanted. Working publicity was good for her, until she needed new models. She knew that about three hundred applications from struggling wannabes awaited at her desk, but there was something natural in girls that have not considered being a model before. And it also gave her an excuse to work and relax at the same time.

She peered into yet another shop.

She saw three pairs of long, beautiful legs worthy of her attention. One she quickly reassessed on account of her fake tan. All three were wearing dresses, and the two that she liked, she hadn't seen their faces yet, were already confident enough to wear white and red dresses, respectively.

The woman in the red dress was busy trying on some shoes, and when she finally stood up to check them out on the mirror, Dom had to look away. The girl had a tattoo covering her neck, torso and plunging into her breasts. That would need too much make up to cover up. Asides from the double take on this woman, she had pretty eyes and a pretty perky nose. But she was out. She tried to look for the white dress again.

But it was already getting out of the store.

She hesitated for a moment before following. This girl, looked very young, had wavy golden blonde hair that trailed behind her, not too long, but it moved along with her curves well enough. Not that she needed a runway model though. She followed behind assessing the girl,

Confident walk. Nice firm legs, somewhat toned. Managed heels just allright, even though they were booties. Slim waist. She need to look at her face though.

Getting creative, she tried to glimpse through the window of the shops. She managed to a see a not too small and not too big elegant nose. Simple earrings. She was about ready to interrupt her when she went into yet another store.

"Hello. I am looking for job" she said in broken English.

"Sugah, we need someone with experience and fluent in english" the sales rep replied.

"I have experience. I learn quickly. Besides, my English isn't that bad" she replied.

"Where you from, sugah?" Seliha, as her name tag indicated, asked her.

"French Guiana" she replied.

"So you speak french?" the girl just nodded.

"Anything else?"

"Caribe, Arawak and Spanish" she replied.

"Well, Spanish might work" she said. "Leave me your info and I'll have my boss call you back"

Dom pretended to be very busy with her phone until she finished the papers and turned around to leave.

"You looking for a job, girl?" she asked. She had a pretty face that at the moment was stunned by the offer. She then quickly nodded.

"Well, I'm looking for a model. And I think you have just the spark"

"What's the catch?" Marie had a thousand things on her mind to say to this woman.

"Fame, most probably" she replied.

"Whats the salary?" she asked.

"Three grand a week, and we pay for everything" she replied.

"I'm gonna need a lawyer before I sign anything" the girl replied.

"What's your name?"

"Winnie Beaucoup" she replied.

"Let's get you a lawyer, Winnie" Dom offered.

* * *

For all the Remy lovers, don't worry! He's gonna be here soon enough.

I hope that you like what i did with Rogue, i might have taken a few liberties with that.

As for the Pyro/oc... this is where it ends. I apologize for those who liked it, but truth is this is about Rogue.

Thank you so much for sticking through my slow writing.

I would really appreciate any reviews.


	22. Acanthous Anticipation

Disclaimer: I own nothing, no superpowers, no characters, just the plot bunny

* * *

Chapter 22

Canada. There was something about being here that made him relax, he threw his head back and brought his cigar to his mouth. The X-jet was hidden behind some trees not far behind. The students were each on their duties.

He wished he could remember, but he also knew that sometimes it best to not know. He also wished that the Professor was still here. But that was another story. He is here. Just in Scotland, but he is very much alive. Ororo said that he would be back in a week, give or take three days. He was unsure what to expect, so settled for the simple expectation.

He saw the students complaining over nothing and made his way to them.

"You kids can handle the Danger Room but not this?" he looked down at the ones he would look down to, some were simply too tall, but he still managed to scare them and keep them in place.

No one answered and they shut up soon enough.

"Rest well tonight, because tomorrow well be swimming across the river and then climbing the mountain by rappeling" he received some groans in response. But the night was beginning to settle and their camp was nearly set. Someone produced five canned goods and he went over to her.

"Distribution, Amara" he said. She looked between her hands and his stern face trying to figure out what he meant. She was one of the few girls that tagged along, Kitty being in Scotland and Siren and Jubilee getting a free pass from Ororo.

"If we eat five cans per day we won't have anything to eat in two days and we are staying here a week. Whose idea was this?" he looked around for someone to blame.

"Um, mine" a squeaky voice that he still could not believe belonged to a guy answered. He sighed and took two cans while pushing back three cans into Amara's expecting hands.

* * *

What she loved the most about living in Edmonton was the anonymity, the quiet, the cold, oh, no, wait, the mall topped all of it. Her lawyers suggested for her to live someplace that she would still be able to keep her everyday life. And that she did. She had the spending money. And she was called to either New York or Los Angeles once or twice a week for a shoot, and that was the bonus on her salary.

She had found a comfortable rent apartment midway between West Edmonton Mall and Athabasca University. The mall had entertainment to last for months, aside from shops and cinema it counted with a hotel and casino, indoor amusement park, indoor water park, mini golf, a whole quarter mile dedicated just to fine restaurants named after New Orleans, and if she had chosen to she could have lived there as well. As far as Athabasca University it was a simple university where she had used her adoption surname and actual transcripts to apply. They willingly let her in, unsuspecting behind the seeing glasses and thick sweaters of who she also was.

Besides, why would a girl born in French Guinea, growing up in the Caribbean chose to live in Canada? Her agents thought that she was trying to set up her own store there, because of the amount of money on tuition, but they weren't all that curious. Since it was better for her this way, she was not complaining.

She had just gotten back from classes; today she had history, economics and chemistry. She had opted to be undeclared for the first semester and maxed out her credits. She lay down on her bed to rest for just a few minutes when her phone rang.

"Winnie, its Drew, your mail is getting forwarded to you as we speak. I already sorted through the spam. Dom asked me to tell you if you wanted the new Lacoste perfume ad campaign you were first choice but had to declare by tomorrow at nine if you wanted it or not."

"I haven't done any perfumes yet, have i?"she replied into the speaker as she took of her fake glasses and let down her hair.

"No, you don't. But you did do so many shoes" he laughed in response.

"Well, what can I say? I have a weakness for shoes?" she replied. All though she still opted for boots, her closet was now full of stilettos, peep toes, pumps, flats and everything she wanted. That was her one guilty pleasure.

"I'm in for the perfume. Any idea what the name is?"she asked.

"Hint of Amethyst" he replied.

"Sounds elegant" she appreciated the name. "Hint of Amethyst"

"What time will the plane be in?"she asked as she took out a post it.

"Ten tomorrow" she was glad tomorrow was Friday, she had managed to max her credits and still have Friday off. Sometimes she had to miss classes, but she had made a few choice friends that she could count on for help. Damien and Evey, short for Evangeline, a couple of nice guys, both Canadians, she had a fun history of herself reserved for them.

"I'll be there," she replied.

"Bye" Drew said and hung up.

Winnie then set her alarm clock to study before leaving, chose to tackle first chemistry and later economics homework. She would take her history book with her on the plane. A quick email check turned out not to be so quick since she was checking her school account, her hotmail for news from the agency and then hacking into the Xavier institute to know that everything was okay. She was quite glad about the small amounts of information and proceeded to pull out a few sheets of fresh, new paper to write out molecules.

She had no idea of the mayhem that was on the news starting a few hours ago. Seeing as she left campus quickly after economics ended, she wasted no time watching the television that student were piling around, crossing it out as some important hockey game.

If she had heard the news, she could have anticipated what was going to happen the next morning.

* * *

Ororo had had many unusual things happen to her during her life, but this made everything else pale in comparison. A person she had lost, had known was dead, and mourned for weeks suddenly was alive again.

She still did a double take everytime she looked at Xavier's new body.

"Storm, something is happening" he said to her. He made his way towards Cerebro, knowing that something was terribly wrong, but unable to feel for it with his bare powers.

Knowing from experience that he was albeit the first to sense trouble, turns out he always had trouble in following the easiest second step.

She went towards the TV room.

"Breaking news, ladies and gentlemen, people have presented manifestations of uncontrolled mutant powers. Three in three San Francisco, five in Nevada, seven in New York City and one in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Witnesses say that these unexplained attacks could all have a common link: all of the known cases had taken the Worthington Laboratories Mutant Cure four months ago."

"So it seems that the infamous mutant cure is not so permanent" Storm smirked at the screen.

"Storm, it is not permanent" she heard in her head.

"I know" she felt sassy as she said it. He laughed in her head as well.

"We have to make some phone calls. Ask Bobby to help you. In my office is a record of every student that passed for even a weekend here, with their respective phone numbers to be localized through, some are cells phones that might have been abandoned, others are house numbers and maybe the parents can help us. I fear for all those children out there who had taken the cure for their parents"

"But, wouldn't they call us?"

"Do you really want to sit here and wait for them to call?" He raised an eyebrow at her as he finally reached her side.

"No, you're right, I'll go get the papers."

"I'll call Bobby to join us" he said and followed with eyes closed.

"Where will we be?" she asked.

"The library, seeing as the older students are out that is the best place with several telephone lines.

"Ok. She said."

After finding the documents and numbers, the three of them sat

"What is this?" Bobby did not wait for them to explain.

"Old students and old friends" Xavier replied cryptically.

"Alison Blaire, Siena Blaze, Sally Blevins" Storm started to read the first pages in front of him

"John Allerdyce, Roberto da Costa, James Proudstar, Douglas Ramsey," Bobbys face has wrinkled at the mention of Pyro, but then lightened up at that last name

"I remember him! Doug beat me at every single game in the mansion"

"Yes, his powers are technological if I remember correctly." Xavier said.

"We have to call all of them, offer them support, an open door, and quite possible refuge if they still live with their parents that made them take the cure. Many of these are still young kids no older than twelve. Plus some teenagers trying to make it on their own" Ororo told him.

"Let's start then."

"Let's see if you remember me, Alison Blaire" he said

"I must attend to other things, please carry on" Xavier said to them and stood up and left.

So they started calling

* * *

"It's happening," she told him as she reached him in the park, it was still their undisclosed meeting place while they each had different tasks at hand.

"I know. I saw a poor young boy sprout a lizard tail and horns in the middle of the street. His mother ran away. When he was done screaming the agony of the transformation, he wept for the mother. No older than six that little boy.

"Did you speak to him?"

"No"

"What happened?"

"Did you know that there is an organized mutant community lived in the sewer system of New York City? One had been watching as well and later, once the boy had calmed down and sought an alley they went to him and took him in. I must say, I was impressed. They could make for wonderful allies."

"Yes, they call themselves the Morlocks" Mystique told him while her eyes glowed a rare yellow. Her skin was still white, but her nails could turn blue now. She knew it was a good sign.

"What about the old crew?"he asked.

"Well, Callisto is dead, which I personally think is a great loss. Juggernaut is out there somewhere, we'll see him when he comes by, he's not hard to miss. Multiple Man is in federal prison. Arclight vanished along with Spyke at Alcatraz. Nothing on Pyro. I'm going to have to try his real name see if something shows up." She summed up her weeks work.

"I think I can handle Multiple Man and Juggernaut. There must be another with a power as similar as Callisto's to work for our advantage."

She smiled her mysterious smile. He gave her a curt nod. She moved a chess piece for the sake of pretending to play, even though she did not have the minimum idea on how.

"My dear, pawns only attack diagonally, they move to the sides and front only." He cared to explain.

"And here I thought the pawns were much more simple." She smirked, then toyed around with the piece with her forefinger.

"Nobody is" He replied, turning towards the sky and deep in thought. She turned to leave, letting him have his private moment.

* * *

"Have you seen the news today, darling?" she asked her guest, even though he was paying for himself, he literally had no idea how her country worked, so she did most everything for him. Including bringing him dinner. He was too busy making a dragon shaped flame spit fire. Thought it was enough to shrug his shoulders in response. She rolled her eyes and took of her shoes before bouncing towards the king sized bed.

"There's usually nothing concerning me in Telenoticias" he at least pronounced correctly.

"Didn't I tell you… and I'm pretty sure it's written in English in the TV guide just in the top bureau, that CNN is on channel 11?" she sighed and saw the controller on the other side of his currently chubby dragon.

"Look at me," she asked of him. He responded by twisting his neck while still leaving one eye to babysit his dragon.

"Looking!" he exclaimed.

She huffed and got out of bed, she then threw the bathroom door closed behind her. He went back to his dragon. He was busy turning it into a thin serpent like dragon with a wide mouth. It looked amazing, as far as anyone in the room was concerned. Maybe a bit less tail….

Taking advantage of his concentration, Paiva shifted herself into the color of the rooms walls and came as close as she could without him noticing. She couldn't believe it was that simple. She then proceeded to dump a very large amount of water on his dragon on the way to his face and then grab the remote control.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed. "That's freezing!" he looked at her monumentally pissed

She was too busy on the edge of the bed getting to the right channel to reply with any smart remark. She got to the channel.

"As has been confirmed for the past eighteen hours, by several unexplained phenomenons in several cities and now confirmed by Worthington labs, the cure is not permanent. Mutant everywhere are having their powers come back to them, whereas some are devastated by this, others are thankful for this opportunity. However, it is all a potential threat for dangers in cities and for the general population. For the mutant activists this seems to be great news and cause for celebration. Reporting from Manhattan, Im Carol Paxton." The news reporter signed off and a new camera focused on a woman in a studio.

Paiva turned to him, expecting some sort of response. He had been about to pounce into her but stopped midstrike to watch the news, his mouth was still ajar.

"Fuck," he finally found his voice.

"I know" she shared his sentiment. "Its been all over the news all day long if you had bothered to seen it instead of playing with fire" she said.

"He's gonna find me" he said out loud.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. He looked at her for a few seconds, then allowed the rest of his body to land on the soft mattress. She leaned over his chest and sucked on his earlobe. He ignored her, too intent on thinking of what this meant. He knew Jean was dead, good riddance. But Magneto would be more hateful than ever when he got his powers back. And he probably already has some of them back, the bastard is too powerful to be stopped.

"John, you're scaring me" she whispered into his ear, trying to lull his out of the stupor he had gone into. Sure, it was big news, but she had not considered that he was going to react this way.

"Hey" she said a bit louder. He didn't react.

Then some music interrupted them. She stopped looking down at him expectantly and shifted off the bed. She made her way to her purse on the table near the door to get her phone. She knew from the ringtone that this was her United States phone line.

"Hello?"she answered, weirded out when she did not know the number.

"Good afternoon, is this Elena Loza?"

"Excuse me, who is this?"she replied.

"My apologies, I am Bobby Drake, you went to Xavier Institute with me a few years back?" he started to say. Calling her house had given him two numbers, and the tried the one that was cheaper to access first.

"Oh, well, I am not sure who you are, but yes I went to Xaviers for a short while." She outright lied. "Can you give me a second?"she asked.

"Sure" the man on the other side lost all sense of colonialism at her joviality and turned to his actual 20 year old self.

She looked back, he seemed to still be in shock. But she knew this was important to him too.

She was torn between going out to the hall and filling him in later and placing this guy on speaker phone so both could hear.

She took out her random number generator from her neck and said to herself, prime means ill stay. Prime was what she was not hoping for.

The screen flashed 599. She knew deep inside she had hoped for this. She pressed the speakerphone button. She sat besides him and looked him in the eye. He was still gone.

"Im back. You can talk now" she said near the phones mouthpiece.

"Well, were just calling everyone. We want to let you know that our doors are always open, and we are aware that many were forced into taking the cure by their families and other similar scenarios. So, we just wanted to know of your situation and if we can be of help.

"Um, thank you. I can take care of myself though, and I never took the cure, but thanks for the thoughts" she ended acidly.

"Our principal is having a recommendation for all former students to regroup and –

"To expand on your pathetic X-men?" John finally talked. "Because you know once Magneto comes back he'll be worse than before?"

They could both hear and pretty much see the boy on the other side of the line gaping and shocked.

"Im sorry. I thought I was speaking to Elena Loza?" he questioned, trying to go very hard through the scenario of hearing someone that sounded a lot like John Allerdyce, the one former student that they were not going to call.

"You are, I don't remember saying that I was alone." She replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought I heard a dead person talking. Who else is there?"

"Your pathetic snowy ass did not actually think that you had killed me, did it?" Pyro bit back.

"He tried to kill you?" Elena turned to him, shocked and scared about him.

"Well, tried being the key word, babe" he replied.

"Oh, darling, you've through so much, why didn't you tell me this?" she said with an extra flounce of her hair. He saw her eyes change into ember colored and knew that she was flaming him on.

"I've been through worse, you know that" he replied and then making a smacking sound near the phone.

"Oh, Pyro, don't start!"

"Um, hello?" Bobby was not even sure if he wanted to interrupt.

"Babe, the phone" John reminded her.

"Oh, right!" she pretended to remember all about it.

"So, Drake, in case you're still unsure, I'm okay, in good company, and have no interest in becoming an X-men. And I think that sums about both of us up." She bit her bottom lip to hold back a laugh.

"No, fyi dumbass, I'm not a part of the Brotherhood if it starts to form again. I'm ready to be my own leader. Don't look for us" he said the last word with joy and passion. Elena saw the power with which he pronounced that word that she knew that shaking him off would never again be an option.

"Good to talk to the two of you" he said and hung up.

"Bye," Elena said to the phone. She proceeded to place it on a nightstand before going back to Pyro.

"You really think he's gonna look for you?" she asked.

"I don't know. I hope not. But who wouldn't want me on their team?"he said to her.

"Well, if it's for a competition on good looks, I wouldn't" she replied coyly. He faced her and grabbed her waist, then started to inch her forward making her lean on him. She had just made his day better.

* * *

Storm looked up at Bobby's shocked face.

She checked the paper in front of him. He has just talked to Elena Loza, a shy metamorph from New Mexico. She however looked to the number listed for her, that was not a U.S. number.

"Bobby?"she asked.

"Right, no, no cure and not coming here."

"Something tells me that there was something else about her. I remember her, smart kid. Used to hang around Amara. Funny, she seemed to know Portuguese since they were never talking English together." Storm rattled in her memory for the girl. Shy, dark hair, not very attractive.

"Sure." Bobby said, his face still puzzled.

"Whats wrong?" she asked again. Bobby opened his mouth three, then four times trying to figure out the best way to explain it.

"Um, okay, first off, I called the first number, she's not from New Mexico, she's from Puerta Rica? Puerto Rico I guess, something else. Her parents gave a number from inside the U.S. She answered all right" He was still pale, well, paler than usual.

"So, you talked to her?"Storm asked, she had been talking to Lorna Dane, who had been with them for far much longer than little Elena Loza. Well, little would not be a good description, since she was Kitty and Rogue's age.

"I think she's seeing Pyro" he finally spat out. She wasn't sure if it was the mention of Pyro or the implication of them dating, but she dropped her jaw.

"Goodness, he's alive?" she said. She pulled the paper with the number over to her and started dialing again.

"They were pretty clear about not being interested in the cure nor us" he said.

"Sorry, Bobby, but I don't care who she is, we need to contact Pyro." She dialed again.

"Yes?" an agitated voice replied on the other end.

"Good night, Ms. Loza. This is Ororo Monroe speaking. You remember me?"

"Yes." she said,

"Would you be so kind to allow me to talk to Mr. Allerdyce?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but he is not taking any calls right now. Maybe he can call you when he is not in the middle of fucking me?" she replied sassily.

"Ah… uh…" the kid certainly knew how to make a person uncomfortable.

"Oh, and this is my personal phone number. I'd appreciated if… John!... Aaahh… you forgot it and called him at his number." She said. She was clearly in the middle of something.

"Excuse me. I'll call back tomorrow" she said and did not wait to hear laughter on the other end. She had turned very heated at hearing such a thing and put the phone and the paper as far away from her as she could.

"We'll ask Xavier to call her tomorrow. I don't think we should call tonight again." she said, fanning herself and feeling so wrong about calling.

Bobby didn't ask. He had been more shocked by hearing John calling her endearments and the noises…

"Keep calling the other numbers. I'm going to find Xavier" Storm informed him, considering it important to locate them both.

* * *

He had no idea where he was headed this time. All he knew, was that he had had enough of the south, enough of Las Vegas. He hadn't had much sleep in a long time, and kept seeing shadows following him wherever he went.

He had seen the news, and was scared for what might happen.

He was especially scared of what could happen to his Marie, and what could be if and when her powers came back. He had personally seen a little girl lose control in the streets of Washington this morning: everything she touched turned to dust, and the first thing to go was her stuffed jiraffe. Second was her mother, she just stood there crying, and when a crowd started to form she shut her eyes in frustration, giving everyone a massive headache that had barely tingled his wards and scared most away. She ended up running around trying to find something to make it stop. Remy had seen it all, but had been too much of a coward to step forward.

He wished he knew where she was, and if she was expecting how exponentially stronger and dangerous she was going to get.

* * *

"Charles," Storm called from the other side of Cerebro. The door opened. She stepped inside and it closed again, humming softly as it did.

He had several images in front of them. Many of them people Storm recognized. Multiple Man, Juggernaut, Sabretooth, Gambit, Wolverine, and three women that she did not know.

"Who are these people?"she asked, forgetting for a second her reason for coming here.

"These mutant are some of the people I fear Eric will try to reincorporate in his ranks." He said to her. He turned and smiled. "I take it you don't recognize Mystique in her true form" There were three women of the screen. One had long blond hair and as she observed carefully realized it was Emma Frost. The other two had dark hair, one seemed too young to be Mystique, and had a cross hanging from her neck. The last one wore a small dress and had blue eyes.

"The one in the dress, I take it." He nodded. "Why is Wolverine on the list?"

"Magneto has always had a special interest in him, and he had an important weakness towards his power as well." He said as he looked at him and some of the younger students that came into view as he walked around the camp.

"What about Toad?"she asked first.

"Can't locate him, nor Magneto. Magneto has for a long time been able to cloak himself from Cerebro. Toad I think has been dead for quite some time now." He said.

'"I am also looking for active mutant powers. Those people who chose to take the cure I cannot sense until their powers return. I would have to concentrate on that specific person to see their location."

"Have you searched for Pyro yet?" she asked.

"No. I thought you said he died the night at Alcatraz?" he said.

"We thought so." He started to think of him. Cerebro whirred into action as he concentrated carefully on the boy. Storm watched as they zoomed into America from the globe surrounding them but then detoured to the south.

"I was just on the phone with a girl, Elena Loza. They seem to be together, I don't know where and I don't know how, but Pyro is with her. I just want to know if we should consider them allies or foes. Pyro has been a foe ever since he left and associated himself with Magneto. I don't know if this girl works for him or another person, should we check their background?" No image appeared, but two dots near South America start to glow brighter as Xavier focused in on them.

"Seeing as they are both in Costa Rica, I don't think Magneto knows about her existence, even less Pyro's association with her. However, it wouldn't surprise me if Magneto was looking for him." He talked as he then went back to the other mutants he was monitoring for glimpses of Magneto.

"They are together," Storm said as serenely as possible.

"What?" he turned to Storm.

"Little Elena Loza seems to have a thing for bad boys." Storm said, looking at the screen, avoiding Xavier's glare. He could not see that much but then glanced at Storm curiously.

"You talked to her?"

"Well, I tried to talk to her, I don't think she was doing much listening" she replied with biting sarcasm. "she talked to Bobby first, I think Pyro addressed him, because of the shock he was in. He just told me that they weren't interested in being recruited for the X-men nor were any of them going to show up."

"I think Pyro, it is safe to say, won't be showing up any time soon" Xavier reflected as his mind allowed him a glimpse of the thoughts in his head.

* * *

"Old friends will always remain friends" he said with a smile. Jamie Maddrox shuffled uncomfortably, but shrugged his shoulders.

"Honestly, I 'm just tired of having been in there for such a long time." The older man smiled and knew that with just this one person, he already had an army at his side.

"It's all for the better good" Magneto replied to him as he opened the rest of the containment cells in the building in front of them. Once Mystique supplied him with coordinates and a map, he had but to visualize it and whatever he wanted happened. He had created chaos without even entering.

Now all he had to do was wait with Multiple Man until the rest of the people found their way out.

* * *

He had seen the tall blonde with a shapely figure at the other side of the bar, but something about her just creeped him out. He was sure he had never seen her before, yet she seemed to know who he was from the way she kept looking at him.

"Care for a drink?" the woman finally made up her mind and sauntered up to him with a beer in her hand. He had never been one for beer, and right now the only thing in front of him was a cell phone. He was waiting for Rogue to call him. The woman standing, and now sitting, next to him was not her.

"Remy be waiting for someone" he said to politely.

"Seems like you've been left out to dry," She said.

"Non, we just haven't set a time yet." He replied and grabbed his cell phone again and started to leave. The blonde did not follow.

Gambit let himself out and pulled his trenchcoat up his neck before walking down the lonely street. He was now in Washington, and he was considering that there had to be a way to find Rogue. He looked up to a billboard, a sexy girl with a mischievous smile was wrapped up in a satin dress gown, but sitting and exposing tan legs. He looked up at the empty frame and saw a name: Dinah Kay. He looked up at the image. The girl had incredible green eyes and was blonde. But all he could see was his Marie.

He was too mesmerized by actually imaging Marie up in that Billboard to notice the woman that had hit on him had followed him out. She looked up at the billboard, huffed in desperation, and left. Since he was absorbed, he did not see her eyes shift from white to yellow. And the girl on the billboard seemed more like Marie the more he saw it. There was no name for the model, just the designer.

He settled on it being a mirage and kept walking.

He walked for a very long time. He realized he should find a motel soon, unless he wanted to sleep on the street.

* * *

AN: The random number generator, from JXIIH, is also borrowed.

And I could've gotten a bit more done with that sensual scene, but I have a purpose with this chapter. Are you ready? Lol. Im not. So don't hold your breath. The scene is set, and Ill post the next to final chapter as soon as I can.

Thank you for reading and know that reviews are a boost to help me finish quicker, (yes im very close to stop writing this specific fic)


	23. Adeciduate Ambience

**Chapter 23 **

"I think Pyro is playing hard to get" Mystique said to him.

"Is that so?" Magneto said simply. He looked up from his desk, in anticipation of any unnatural disaster they had built a new quarters for the Brotherhood, and this was the safest yet. He called it the rock, affectionately, but it was so much more.

"Left the country" she sighed.

"We need him, I can go with Wanda is you prefer to sit this one out" he offered.

"No, I'll go" she said to him. He smiled knowingly, that kid had a very strong potential. It would be worth a plane ride.

"Tell me where he is then"

"Central America." Mystique said. "He has been paying with our marked money everything from the plane ticket to his hotel expenses" she smiled maliciously.

"We'll go in two days" he said and went back to the computer sitting in front of him.

* * *

"Bonjour, Drew" Winnie said to him as she came to board the plane, she came in a cab, and as soon as she got on the private jet she started to take off her winter clothes to reveal a beige caramel tan. He smiled in return, handed her mail to her and took her three coats.

"I still cannot figure out why you wanted Canada of all places" he said, his teeth chattering from the wind coming from the still open door.

"It was my…. Dream? Always to come here, live here." She said, breaking down the English as her identity required. She sat and went through her letters quickly, opening each, writing a quick reply to guys who asked for a personal pic or girls wanting tips on how to make it in the fashion industry. She really had no clue, so just said perseverance and hard work. Follow your dreams and all that talk.

"What are you doing up here, Winnie?" Drew seriously asked her while she wrote. She looked up at him, smiled, blinked and went back to writing. That was her: always keeping to herself.

"I like Canada." She said once more.

"Okay, okay, I get it" he said and went back to his pocket PC. "Today we are going to somewhere different for this shoot. Apparently, the perfume has a woody scent? Whatever that is, and Dom considers you are up for a challenge of shooting outdoors. So, we are going to northern Canada."

"Wow, all those Americans are coming here just to photograph me?" she said with a giggle. He nodded, but then said yes when he noticed she was still working on fan mail. "Okay, I can work in broad daylight"

"You better, I know models don't manage it at all. But, we all already know how easily photographs come to you. You are advancing fast, you have been working what, three months only?" She tried to make a head count, but it jittered with too many ages and too many years to be sure.

"I guess, I be bad at keeping track of time" she said.

"Haha, next thing you'll say is that you're not really sure you are eighteen" he joked. She laughed with him, but deep inside tried to remember. John was born in 1985, Bobby in 1987, Eric in 1934, Carol in 1972 and she in 1988. She knew that her Winnie ID said she was born in 1993, but she knew, yes, she knew, her real age was 22. But she played the part well. (I took some liberties, but tried to make it all fit)

"Winnie? " he asked again. She smiled.

"Yes, I turn nineteen in September" she sighed, pretending to feel old about it. "Modeling was never my dream, but I like it a lot… and the pay, yes."

Remy crouched on the ledge of the building. He was still trying to find Marie in one of those billboards. It was the eyes, that was the one thing that reminded him of her and she could not let go of that idea.

He decided and dropped down to look for a bus. She would not be there, he knew that, but he just hoped that if he called Xavier Institute, at least he would talk to Warren.

He was in New York, but he was sure that NYC was a long way from the school. He went to a payphone and searched the yellow pages for the place. Just besides the booth was another poster of the same girl. She was everywhere, and in this picture she was advertising for a shoe company. He shook his head and found the number. He dialed it into his cell phone and dropped the book. He walked towards his everlasting mirage with the phone at his ear, waiting for someone to answer.

* * *

Elena rolled over in bed, she had spent the night, and she had promised him yesterday that today would be the big day. Today he could come over to her house, and stop living in a hotel. She knew her parents would not be too happy, but she wanted to make him feel more welcome.

Well, truthfully, she wanted to do something for his paranoia that Magneto was coming to get him. There was no sex yesterday, and she had been trying to get through to him ever since they hung up with Ms. Monroe.

X-men and Brotherhood, it all sounded too much like a movie to her, but she guessed it was a mutant thing. She was a lonely mutant, all that she knew was that she did not want to get involved. But she was with John, she already was more involved than she knew.

She stared at the roof thinking of what to do. Then she looked at her sweetheart.

"Te voy a proteger, no voy a dejar que ninguno de ellos te toque" I'm going to protect you, I am not gonna let any of them touch you

He was still asleep, and she preferred that. In her head, a small, devious but adequate plan had hatched overnight.

She planted a soft kiss on his temple, and he sighed in his sleep. She smiled at his sleeping form. In her overnight bag, there was a hair dye, scissors and new clothes. She just hoped he would say yes.

If everything went well, they would be in Bonaire in two and a half days.

* * *

Storm was watering her plants in the solarium, humming to herself. The gardenias were about to bloom, and just the anticipation of their sweet essence made her relax. The hyacinths on the other hand were just losing their flowers. She wondered over to her orchids, some buttons were coming, and that made her glad.

She heard the phone ring and walked over to the desk. She just hoped it was not another surprise. Probably a kid calling back, she thought.

"Xavier Institute," she said to the headpiece.

"Bon nuit, I was wondering if you have heard from… Marie?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know any Marie, who is this?"

"Excuse-moi, this be Remy. She goes by the name Rogue, have you heard of her?"

"LeBeau? Is this actually Remy LeBeau calling Xavier Institute?" Storm asked.

"Um, you know Remy?" he asked the woman. Shit, had he slept with her?

"Yes, you don't remember me do you?"

"Non"

"I am Ororo, you helped me when I was amnesiac. You must remember. Small girl, from Ethiopia, lost in the streets of Nawlins?"

"Ororo? Oui, I remember you, you were like a petite souer to me"

"I knew you would remember. You are looking for Rogue?" she asked, getting back to topic

"Oui, is she there?" he asked excitedly.

"I am afraid not, she left the institute around four months ago"

"Je sais, my question is if she has called there"

"Non, not a word. Not that I know of. Remy? How do you know her?"

"We met the other day, she said she would call me, but hasn't."

"I can ask some students about her, but she has not come home"

"Doubt she would think of the Institute as home, from what she told me." He said. The call was worthless. He hung up.

Ororo was stunned into silence. She took the cure. Well, off course she took the cure. She was probably the only hypocrite inside the X-men that left to take the cure.

Her anger raised a little with the thought of her taking the cure. But then she remembered it was not permanent.

"She is gonna get what she deserves" she thought acidly, and went back to her orchids.

* * *

In the lower levels of the X-mansion, Colossus was sparring with Warren. The two had gotten along quite well since they returned to the mansion together. Both wanted to hear from Rogue, but she had not called yet.

Still, they had hope and always had phone nearby.

"So, big news that it is not permanent right?" Colossus said.

"Yeah, makes me worry"

"About your father?" Piotr asked him. Warren grimaced.

"No, he got that for me because he could not accept what I am. I am worried about Rogue, we don't know where she is, and for all we know, her powers will come back stronger than before" he shared his thoughts. Piotr agreed and reached for a water bottle.

"She had proven that she can take care of herself. You should see the way she was in here, up against Wolverine alone and in a lot of different scenarios" he said, though he was worried too. He just wanted to convince himself that she was going to be okay.

"You didn't see her with Carol Danvers inside her," he said. And then proceeded filled him in.

* * *

She looked out the window. Evergreens dominated the landscape. She could not smell them, but it looked fantastic. She wished the could take a picture and send it to all her friends. She thought of Remy, and that intimate moment in which he had let her touch him. It sent shivers down her spine. And those shivers reminded her of John, her partner in crime. He had been her drinking buddy, the one guy that she had been intimate with. She smiled at the memory of him making her orgasm. Then she remembered finding him all weak in an alley, his face of awe and disgust towards her. The betrayal he felt because she took the cure. She had been sure it had been what she wanted, but at the moment she did not care how it could affect anyone else. She kept her eyes on the horizon. Her green eyes that were the one thing that identified her. The other day a photographer called Finn had recommended she dyed her hair a dark brown. She had to say that she did not think it would look good, she had to convince him out of it. Otherwise the next time she redid her highlights she would have brown hair. Not only would it be just like her old self, with her face in most cities in the U.S., anybody could recognize her and come back to her. She wanted to go as blond as possible instead. So they went heavier on the eye make-up. It weighed down on her lids, but loved the sensation of washing it off herself once the shoot was done.

As they headed north, she relished the feeling of the cold towards her. She was sure it was going to be freezing, but that meant most people would be covered up. She laughed, now it would be everyone covered up because of the cold and her wearing whatever costume they had set aside, probably something that did not cover much. It was a little bit ironic in her head.

She thought of John again, and hoped he was safe.

"Penny for your thoughts, Win?" Drew looked up from her planner. He handled everything to her, but was actually Dom's fourth assistant. He did not mind, she was much more easy to talk to. And she did not act like another dumb eighteen year old. That is why he had asked. He thought she had lied about her age. And if a woman lies about her age, what else would she lie about? Her origin?

"The trees, they are lovely. Preciosos… beautiful" She said. But her mind was thinking of John and Remy. One she had the strongest feelings toward, the other she had feelings for, too. But the rational part of her head said two things: they are part of the life I left behind. I have to look forward. And John hates you. She knew that was true. But that did not mean she could not relish in the memories.

"Drew, how old are you?" she asked, coming out of her thoughts. He gave her a shocked look.

"Twenty eight" he answered.

"So you were born 1982" she replied. He nodded.

"Where did you study?" she asked.

"NYU, what is with the twenty questions?" he asked.

"That was only two." She replied. She started shuffling memories. According to Henri, Remy was 27. But Remy knew he was born 1982, and turned 29 later this year. But he had pretended to be younger, because his father and brother wanted someone younger than him. Besides, from living on the streets he looked younger because of his malnourishment. "So I have eighteen more questions to go," she replied with a mischievous grin. Drew groaned but played along.

"Then I am asking you questions too"

"Sure, Drew"

"Are you really eighteen? Where were you born?" She laughed and produced her id for him.

"All right, so you are eighteen." However, on further inspection he looked closer at the id.

"Win, when did you get this?"

"My turn, what was your first kiss like?"she asked, a childish question, she knew, but, after all, she was only 18.

"Lame, when did you get this?" he asked again. She looked around uncomfortable.

"My cousins husband got it for me…"she said.

"This is a fake id." He said to her. She was shocked, but not of the fact that it was fake, but of the fact that he could tell.

"What?" she snatched if from his hand and looked at it carefully. Sure it said she was from Louisiana, which is where it was emitted, but nothing about her homeland.

"Your cousins husband was probably too cheap to help you get a real one, and that social security number? Probably someone from the northeast, judging from the initial four numbers." Damn, he was good.

"Wow, does that mean I am in the country illegally?" she asked.

"Well, considering you are in Canada and not in the U.S., I wouldn't worry much. Just keep quiet about that. And if you want I can look up the owner of that number, see who scammed you."

"Isn't it easier to just apply for a social security number? I have a stable job now."

""Well, I don't really know. I'll ask. And yes, I will keep this between you and me"

"Thanks" she said.

"So, another question." He liked her questions.

"You got a girlfriend?" she asked, straight for the kill.

"Not really, relationships are complicated. You have a boy back home?" She shook her head.

"Has anyone ever told you you are a good kisser?" he blushed as he replied yes. She laughed.

"Prove it" she said sassily and leaned towards him. He just held up a hand.

"I don't think that that would be a good idea" he said. Just then the jet started to descend. He was thankful she was not going to push him anymore.

It was the middle of nowhere. Another plane was settling in the same clearing in the woods,

"Ready to shoot?" he asked as they both put their coats back on. She nodded. Ignoring the double meaning. She used to do target practice with the others during She did not need to prepare for this.

A first plane had already settled earlier, the location seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and she liked that, no paparazzi that way. A chair with a lit up table and a mirror and more than enough make up was sprawled over it. She smiled and walked towards the make-up artists. Those women had the toughest job in the world: convince everyone that the person that was being photographed was beautiful from every single angle. She loved how the left her, even if it was always someone different. She tried to learn the names, only to realize they changed too often. She recognized Georgina and smiled to the woman as she went forward to kiss her on the cheek and then sat in the chair.

"What comes first?" She asked. Georgina produced tweezers. Winnie knew this would hurt, but just relaxed her face as the woman tweezed her eyebrows. As she looked around, she saw a photographer she had already worked with before get down from the other plane along with his crew.

The first pull was the most painful, and she wrinkled her brows in response, willing her face to be tame for the duration. When the second one came, she thought of more painful things that beauty to stay steady.

* * *

He woke up slowly, not really wanting to wake up. He was having a good dream. He rolled over in bed, unsure if Paiva had stayed over last night. He reached for his lighter but then heard the shower running. A goofy smiled lit up his face. She had stayed over.

"Babe," he called as he went to join her in the shower. She turned to smile at him, glad that he had finally woken up. He looked at her as she water trailed over her body, cascading down her stomach and legs, soaking her hair. She wasn't yet lathered up in soap, but he would change that oh-so-fast.

"You waiting for a written, invitation, honey?"she asked him naughtily. He dropped his boxers and went over to the warm water.

* * *

He did not really like this city, it was not dark enough and not lit enough. Also, he never knew how to approach a woman from the northeast, they were much simpler in the south. And regrettably, a feeling at the pit of his stomach told him that Marie was not in New York City either. He wondered why he could not get her out of his head, and wondered if she had the same trouble.

"Probably not" he whispered to himself as he inhaled his mentholated cigarette.

It was around midday, or something like that, so he just stayed hidden beneath his coat around Central Park. Simmering in his thoughts about what to do next. He saw a woman make her way towards an older man that was sitting absently besides a chess set. They exchanged words and she left. He was intrigued enough to stay behind. He produced a pack of cards and started to play solitaire.

A few hours later, the woman came back. This time she was not alone. Recognition hit him fast: he knew the woman that was with her. It was Sarah, all grown up. He would never forget her, he would never forget the pain and guilt of the events that led up to him meeting her.

He saw the young woman, she could not be older than Marie, maybe even quite younger. Her hair was a deep violet color, her true skin hidden behind a bodice and gloves. Much in the same way he hid his eyes.

The old man smiled at her, and he knew that that man whoever he was, was powerful, and up to no good.

He saw the telltale signs of Marrow being angry and then pissed off. As she made to leave he followed her with his sight, while still playing with his cards. He was too far away and had been there too long for the people talking on the other side of the park to suspect the attention he had put in them.

He let his eyes slip closed, for a short while, deciding to follow Marrow down to the sewers once he woke up. The girl could not be over twenty, but it was clear she had an important position within the Morlocks.

* * *

He had seen a plane land a few kilometers from where they were camping, he knew that only maybe one other person had noticed it. He still continued packing up camp with the rest of the kids with which he was on expedition. Rahne seemed unwilling to leave, but he called for her to come back to the site. The wolf incorporated into a girl a few meters away, covered by a few bushes where she had left her clothes. His inner wolf reacted to her silhouette, but the man inside him saw a little frightened girl, knowing perfectly well that it was the animal he lusted after.

Paul helped him during take off, and then they quickly made their way to the X-Mansion. Logan chanced a small view to where two other jets were landing where the small plane had landed before, something was going on there, but he hoped it had nothing to do with them.

* * *

He stared at Cerebro, he knew very little of the mutants whose powers had manifested a second time, exacerbated from their first time. A teenage boy who could breath fire like a dragon. Another one of them was a timid girl who was able to turn everything to dust with her hands. One young man that was a reptile metamorph. Lastly, an old man whose voice could travel miles as a whisper. And the youngest yet: a four year old boy who was a vegetable telekinetic: being able to communicate and will plants to his thoughts. It was the first three who had been all over the news. As he saw the different coverages, he saw other mutants in the background, some he knew and some he did not. As he linked into the scared mutants minds, he saw that most of them were scared. Adrian, the last boy whose parents had been scared of, was currently locked up in his room. And his parents did not seem hostile enough.

Diego, the little fire breather from North DaKota had hid himself alone in the woods. No one was looking for him.

Ariadne was the most in danger, her mother had been the first to go. It created quite a scene in Washington D.C. Many mutants and humans had seen her. Still, one human that knew her came for her, asking nicely to be careful what she touched with her bare hands.

And Sean had been taken by the Morlocks to the New York City Sewers, that was quite fitting.

* * *

She glanced in the mirror, unable to recognize herself, not only did the make up artists do a really good job, her blonde hair had just been given lighter highlights and she was revealing a soft tan instead of her usual pale skin. It was a complete transformation. She smiled at Georgina and Lorena as they set the mirrors to reveal their work. She complimented them.

"If it weren't for the canvas, Winnie" they said. Marie had grown used to the nickname Winnie, after the first four times when she thought of a yellow bear looking for honey. The whole morning she had been carefully glancing at Drew, to see if there was any signs that he told anyone of their secret, hoping it looked like she had a crush on him for the rest of the crew. Still, no one was the wiser and he seemed to keep quiet.

The photographer walked over to her, his name was Patrick von Pomme, and he was a little bit rounded up like an apple, but she kept that thought to herself. She smiled at him.

"Darling Winnie! You look gorgeous" he said as a greeting. She looked away bashfully, then lifted her head once more.

"Thank you, Good morning, Patrick." She said.

"I trust you have already been given the basics about this shoot." She nodded and he continued. "Good, now, the idea is to see you being playful around the trees, you must have seen Mischiveious by Nina Ricci, something of a similar concept, only here we want Mischivious meets a climbing girl. So. We reassembled branches to you to be in, they won't be too high, and for you to be playing in the trees. Tone down the sensuality and play in the woods."

"Got it" she said. Annette did wardrobe, and Patrick pointed out the colors he wanted. Soon she was dressed in a burgundy brown miniskirt with a floral orange, purple, pink and red flowy strapless fitted blouse. Simple faux diamonds settled on her pierced ears.

She then walked towards the trees, getting acquantianced with the setting. The smell of pine and evergreen grew intenser, she even dared to pull on a few pinecones to smell.

"Ready?" came Patrick's voice from a few steps away. She nodded. She crouched first, knees bent and her butt resting on her ankles, and looked at him with a tricky smile. He seemed to like because he took a few shots. She then moved a finger to her lips, then removed thinking that looked sexy and not playful, then she stood on her tiptoes for a few seconds, then incorporated herself. She smiled fully towards the camera as she slowly moved her body from sideways to the front, rotating. She then took a chance with the nearest and fullest trunk and hugged it, while still playing with the camera. She then bent to let both hands rest on one knee as she spread her legs a little, not too much.

"I like it" Patrick said. She giggled softly and then rested against the tree taking a branch and pulling it towards her. The tiny little branches that were the leaves tickled against her skin but she held it against her shirt and then her neck for a few seconds.

"Move it towards your legs, Win" Patrick asked, as she was doing so, she heard the branch ripped as she had tugged too hard. She jumped out of the way, losing some grace in a few pictures, only to then land crouching and with some hair in her face, she gave the camera en upsie – daisy look and then stood up again.

"Okay, that was great work. Second outfit." She went towards the make shift powder room that was the make up chair and the changing room that was simply a folded curtain. Annette was waiting for her and Marie went towards her she handed her Capri pants that ended just before the knee, now a few shades of brown lighter. She then rummaged for bigger earrings, stainless steel hoops with dangling chains and what looked like an owl feather, brown to match against her blonde hair, she kept the shirt but lost the flats she was wearing and they changed for orange stilettos.

"Thank you" she said to Annette. She smiled, and then looked at her.

"Wait, let me get this straight" she said as she went to reposition her shirt, a little bit lower since it had ridden up.

She stood still as Annette came towards her.

That's when she felt it.


	24. Alarmed and armed

Warren and Storm were practicing their flying skills around the mansion when they saw the jet with the campers arriving. They settled on the ground and went to meet them downstairs.

Xavier was training in the danger room, so Storm went to the top box to alert him over the speaker that they were home. The sweaty Xavier looked up at her and then ended the simulation.

Jubilee was busy watching TV, hoping to see Rogue in some TV ad.

Piotr was in his room when he felt the familiar jolt of the basketball court opening for the X Jet to enter once more.

Wolverine was glad that it was over, his first order of business was go out for a beer.

"Welcome back!" Storm, Warren and the Professor were down in the hangar to meet them. Wolverine just looked up, took his cigar out of his mouth and then went towards the garage.

"Suppose" was the only word out of Wolverine as he walked past them, his mind on an ice cold beer. The students poured out looking exhausted and in need of a shower. Ororo smiled at all of them, most too tired to even return the smile simply waved at her.

She decided to make her way to the Solarium again, and on her way up heard the rev of a bike.

* * *

John was nervous. It seemed like an odd thing to say, he knew that Paiva was not living with her parents, just visiting. Still, it was an uncomfortable feeling. Also, the fact that he had already slept with her too many times to count was not helping settle his stomach. She saw his face and told him not to worry.

After all, she had already had fun with his makeover. She knew that the result was something her parents would have no complaints about.

"What are their names again?"

"Pablo and Melissa, remember Mehlissa and not Melissaa, accent on the e" she replied.

"Right"

Besides, they would only be with them the half hour until they reached the coast.

"Babe, I don't want to do this" he sighed.

"Relax, my parents will be fine, so long as you don't start playing with fire" she repeated again as she saw him nervously flicking his lighter.

* * *

Mystique walked in unannounced and naked, just as he preferred her.

"Our transportation is leaving in an hour," she informed him. They were meant to go to find Pyro. He nodded once. He was still on the phone with important information being relayed to him at the moment. He wrapped up the conversation with Maddrox and then hung up on him. He headed towards her room, where she was sitting in the spitting image of the one girl that got away, a girl they had both wanted to play with.

She gave him a shy, coy smile as she unbuttoned an innocent looking blouse to reveal the blue skin underneath. Magneto smiled, his hand going to her neck, barely letting her breath for a few seconds. She relishing in it for a few seconds, then allowed a single word out of her.

"Air" he let her go and she collapsed to the ground with a bang. She shifted into her normal self, and sat up against the wall. The powerful man opposite her kneeled before her, and took the arm she had scraped, licking the blood of her wound, then willing the iron in her blood to keep inside. She was instantly turned on.

* * *

Getting down was not difficult, but finding their home was. The Morlocks have always been difficult to find, they are have never been good at answering questions either.

He wondered the sewers as stealthily as he could, keeping in mind that the Morlocks are not keen of visitors, and that the best way to find them is to be found.

"What are you doing here, LeBeau?" a woman interrupted his thoughts. He turned to watch Sarah, all grown up but still with her no bull shit tone of voice.

* * *

He had been sitting on Cerebro studying recent events when a sudden scream brought him to a fetal position. He knew he had felt a scream like that before, but only subconsciously. What scream could be so raw?

As soon as he recovered from the shock, he found the point and person of origin.

"Rogue, you foolish girl" Xavier said to himself as he put the school on high alarm.

_Students, classes are dismissed for the rest of the day. X-men, we are leaving in five minutes._

_Logan, we need you back, now._

* * *

"Sarah, chére, how are you?" he asked, softly, not wanting to make too much of a problem.

"What do you want, Remy?" she asked again.

"I'm looking for a friend, and I saw you earlier today so I followed you." he explained, not wanting to lie knowing full well she knew how to tell when he lied.

"Whats her name?" she asked,

"Rogue or Marie" he said to him.

"I know no one by either of those names. Are you playing tricks with me?" she asked.

"Non, are you associating yourself with Magneto now?" he asked her just as bluntly.

"You were spying on me"

"Non, Remy be looking for Marie, if you haven't seen her he'll be on his way. Just know that it is not a good idea to associate yourself with Magneto, petite." He warned.

"Don't call me that. Now get out, you're lucky I was the one who found you creeping about" Sarah, head of the Morlocks, said, and this was probably the nicest way she was gonna tell him goodbye.

He didn't wait around and turned back to leave.

* * *

"What happened? Where are we going?" Logan grumbled as he got on the plane, every active member was there, and they were all waiting for him. He missed the very short briefing Xavier gave.

"Logan," Piotr was the one who stepped forward. "It's Rogue."

With those simple words, he was distressed.

"Is she in danger? Is she trapped?"

"Her powers manifested exponentially" Xavier explained. "I don't know all the circumstances because her mind is so hard to read, all I could do was locate where she was"

"Where is she?" he demanded of them.

"Alberta, Canada" Ororo filled him in as the jet ascended. He sat down and gulped audibly.

"Is she at a research facility?" he asked, his heart dropping to the floor. He was her friend, he was supposed to protect her.

"Logan, we will know when we get there" Xavier reassured him.

"Fuck" he said.

* * *

This could not be happening. She felt it stronger than ever before. It was the weakest she had ever felt and the most powerful at the same time. Thoughts began to escape her, there were no voices in the back of her head to comfort her, to sooth her, they were all fading out alongside her own. Other thoughts began to invade her, and how they terrified her. These thoughts were more than scared: frightened or terrified did not even begin to describe it. Everything flowed into her, memories of a man and a baby and the strength that bound her body, she used to be a triathlete. She wanted it all to stop. She did not understand. It had never been like this, but this was a whole new feeling to her at the same time. Where did her strength go? She did not even feel like herself, she knew that it was not herself thinking her thoughts, she felt that she was leaving her body behind. She had shut her eyes from the pain; but once she opened them again she screamed in agony: for it was herself she was staring at, crumpled on the floor, shaking, and she was convulsing alongside it too. She shut her eyes again, not understanding what was happening around her. She thought she heard a scream, but was not sure if it was hers from the body she was looking at or from the one she was looking out of.

Someone neared her, she turned to ask them what had happened.

"Oh my god! Annette!" Georgina rushed over and crouched besides the body lying besides her.

"I don't understand what's happening, Rina" she said to the woman. The woman stared at her, bewildered. She moved towards her. "What happened?" she asked. Georgina just shook her head, she had no idea either.

"Let me help you up" the Annette inside her head said as Georgina produced her hand towards Winnie.

And then she remembered nothing else. Winnie came back to her senses and tried to let go, but Georgina once she had managed to stand failed in balancing and fell again on top of her. There was way too much skin exposed, and she felt the sting of her hand on her arm and her cheek on her exposed leg. It took her a while to get her off, all the while battling with Annette in her head.

Once she got untangled and had no current contact, she watched the two women she had grown accostumed to and probably her few friends since becoming Winifred Beaucoup. She looked around, because of how the dressing room and make up stall were positioned nobody had noticed what was happening. She wanted to scream, but experience had taught her that was useless.

She heard people talking, on their break, unknowing of what had just happened. The only person who might enter was Lorena, and she was hoping she was too busy flirting with Dean to come here right now.

Only one thing made sense, and she thought this while battling for control of her senses with two terrified women in her head. She had to run.

She quickly disposed of her stilettos, but found no useful shoe to run in inside the shoe bag.

"Shit" she said. She put on a long sleeve shirt, a sweater and longer pants. She had already wasted too much time, but she scrambled around everything looking for gloves.

"Winnie, time's up" she heard Patrick call. She had to leave now, the moment she sprinted behind the screen they would see her, she just hoped she reached a denser part of trees quickly. She walked around to the side where there weren't two bodies lying cold on the ground. She wished she hadn't.

"Is that what they asked you to wear?" Drew asked her. She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in.

"What the hell?"

"They'll be all right, they just passed out from excitement of what I just told them" she said to him.

"I'm sorry?"

"Drew, listen to me, stay calm." Winnie asked him.

"What the fuck happened here?" he said once he managed to free himself of her grip and walk over to them to check their pulses.

"Drew, listen, I can't explain, not to you." She said, a hand going to her temple in a useless attempt to diminish her headache from the screaming and frightened psyches in her head. The Wolverine in her head kept telling her to run, run as fast and as far away as she could.

"What did you to do them?" he asked. She looked guility at him.

"It was an accident" and a weird sense of déjà vu took over her. And in that moment, where she was remembering something that happened in the not so distant past, that's when She took over.

"Winnie?" he asked again.

"Winnie? Is that the name of that poor girl laying on the ground?" Carol asked the boyish young man in front of her. He shot her a puzzled look.

"No, you are Winnie." He replied, trying to remain as calm as he could. Could it be she was bipolar?

"No, handsome. My name's Carol, Carol Danvers. And I have to say it's the first time I see you" she said to him, pushing her hair behind her ears. She then seemed to notice the weird outfit she was in. "Where are my shoes?" she said and started looking around.

Drew thought that the girl in front of him had lost her mind, but still could not explain what happened to the other two. He ignored the woman in front of him for a second, and turned towards the two on the ground.

Only one had a pulse, Annette had a very weak pulse, but Georgina had none. He started to compress her chest attempting CPR, but knew that he had taken that course way too long ago and could not really remember.

"What happened to her?" Carol asked, genuinely concerned. He just looked at the woman that had settled besides him.

"I don't know," he managed in between compressions.

"You look tired, do you want me to help?" she asked

"I can do it" he said.

"No, seriously, let me help" she insisted and touched his shoulder to incentive him to move to the other side. He cautiously allowed her. She checked over that her throat was in the right position, felt for air to indicate she was breathing and then positioned both her palms at the end of her sternum.

She pressed down. Drew heard an audible crack, and seconds later blood started to dribble down the side of her mouth.

"Oh, did I just kill her?" Carol said in between tears. "I'm sorry, I don't know my own strength sometimes" she explained to him.

"Strength?" he said. Winnie has always been a small girl, in no manner strong even less with strength to break a bone in two just with her hands.

"I am so sorry" she said. She shook her head.

"Drew,"

"Winnie?" he asked.

"Yeah, its me. I can't explain. She just… surfaces sometimes. I thought I had her under control, but her…. Her abilities… oh god." She said and placed her hands on her head, watching in horror the blood seeping from Annette.

"Winnie…" Drew said, he went to grab her hand and was surpised as how fast she moved to avoid it.

"Don't touch me, just don't" she said to him, already standing and two feet away again.

"What happened to them, Winnie?" he asked again.

"It was an accident. I was supposed to be cured" tears welled up again, and as she blinked they fell down her cheeks.

Drew saw the frightened little girl he had met a few months ago resurface, insecure and so innocent, he walked over to where she was and tried to hold her, hug her to help her see that it was gonna be okay.

But he understood too late, when his chin touched her forehead and he felt a pain different than any he had felt before.

Winnie tried to push him away, but then realized that he was a mutant: a lower level mutant, that did not know his potential to use a psionic pulse. As she felt his powers mix with her own, she knew that control was no longer possible.

He lost consciousness in her arms, and she lifted him bridal style, and held him closer, careful not to touch him, as she felt the energy build inside her brain. The Drew inside her head wanted to leave, get out of her jumbled mind and in that state of stress and fear he reached the potential to unlock his first ever psionic pulse, he had never before done so because he led such a tranquil life, and even as a teenager never had an outburst.

Rogue allowed for the psionic pulse to shimmer through all the psyches in her head, dimming them down, and hoped that his brain was unaffected since he was unconscious, and that it was not large enough to affect the whole camp.

When the energy left her, she knew that the radius was much bigger than she had hoped for.

She heard everybody crash to the floor around her.

Not knowing what else to do, she went to stand from her kneeling position with Drew in her arms. She surprised herself when she levitated and flew upwards instead of standing. This was not Magneto, this was Carol. And she was not the dominant voice in her head. She felt herself on top of everbody else. Still defying gravity, she realized Drew was actually rather light.

* * *

AN: trying to reach an ending. thanks for reading.


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